wp_die( string|WP_Error $message = , string|int $title = , string|array|int $args = array() )

Kills WordPress execution and displays HTML page with an error message.

Description

This function complements the die() PHP function. The difference is that HTML will be displayed to the user. It is recommended to use this function only when the execution should not continue any further. It is not recommended to call this function very often, and try to handle as many errors as possible silently or more gracefully.

As a shorthand, the desired HTTP response code may be passed as an integer to the $title parameter (the default title would apply) or the $args parameter.

Parameters

$messagestring|WP_Erroroptional
Error message. If this is a WP_Error object, and not an Ajax or XML-RPC request, the error’s messages are used.

Default:''

$titlestring|intoptional
Error title. If $message is a WP_Error object, error data with the key 'title' may be used to specify the title.
If $title is an integer, then it is treated as the response code.

Default:''

$argsstring|array|intoptional
Arguments to control behavior. If $args is an integer, then it is treated as the response code.
  • response int
    The HTTP response code. Default 200 for Ajax requests, 500 otherwise.
  • link_url string
    A URL to include a link to. Only works in combination with $link_text.
    Default empty string.
  • link_text string
    A label for the link to include. Only works in combination with $link_url.
    Default empty string.
  • back_link bool
    Whether to include a link to go back. Default false.
  • text_direction string
    The text direction. This is only useful internally, when WordPress is still loading and the site’s locale is not set up yet. Accepts 'rtl' and 'ltr'.
    Default is the value of is_rtl() .
  • charset string
    Character set of the HTML output. Default 'utf-8'.
  • code string
    Error code to use. Default is 'wp_die', or the main error code if $message is a WP_Error.
  • exit bool
    Whether to exit the process after completion. Default true.

Default:array()

More Information

You can add a WP_Error object. If you’ve done so, you can add $data['title'] to the error object and it will automatically be taken as (default/overwriteable) title for the die page

Source

function wp_die( $message = '', $title = '', $args = array() ) {
	global $wp_query;

	if ( is_int( $args ) ) {
		$args = array( 'response' => $args );
	} elseif ( is_int( $title ) ) {
		$args  = array( 'response' => $title );
		$title = '';
	}

	if ( wp_doing_ajax() ) {
		/**
		 * Filters the callback for killing WordPress execution for Ajax requests.
		 *
		 * @since 3.4.0
		 *
		 * @param callable $callback Callback function name.
		 */
		$callback = apply_filters( 'wp_die_ajax_handler', '_ajax_wp_die_handler' );
	} elseif ( wp_is_json_request() ) {
		/**
		 * Filters the callback for killing WordPress execution for JSON requests.
		 *
		 * @since 5.1.0
		 *
		 * @param callable $callback Callback function name.
		 */
		$callback = apply_filters( 'wp_die_json_handler', '_json_wp_die_handler' );
	} elseif ( defined( 'REST_REQUEST' ) && REST_REQUEST && wp_is_jsonp_request() ) {
		/**
		 * Filters the callback for killing WordPress execution for JSONP REST requests.
		 *
		 * @since 5.2.0
		 *
		 * @param callable $callback Callback function name.
		 */
		$callback = apply_filters( 'wp_die_jsonp_handler', '_jsonp_wp_die_handler' );
	} elseif ( defined( 'XMLRPC_REQUEST' ) && XMLRPC_REQUEST ) {
		/**
		 * Filters the callback for killing WordPress execution for XML-RPC requests.
		 *
		 * @since 3.4.0
		 *
		 * @param callable $callback Callback function name.
		 */
		$callback = apply_filters( 'wp_die_xmlrpc_handler', '_xmlrpc_wp_die_handler' );
	} elseif ( wp_is_xml_request()
		|| isset( $wp_query ) &&
			( function_exists( 'is_feed' ) && is_feed()
			|| function_exists( 'is_comment_feed' ) && is_comment_feed()
			|| function_exists( 'is_trackback' ) && is_trackback() ) ) {
		/**
		 * Filters the callback for killing WordPress execution for XML requests.
		 *
		 * @since 5.2.0
		 *
		 * @param callable $callback Callback function name.
		 */
		$callback = apply_filters( 'wp_die_xml_handler', '_xml_wp_die_handler' );
	} else {
		/**
		 * Filters the callback for killing WordPress execution for all non-Ajax, non-JSON, non-XML requests.
		 *
		 * @since 3.0.0
		 *
		 * @param callable $callback Callback function name.
		 */
		$callback = apply_filters( 'wp_die_handler', '_default_wp_die_handler' );
	}

	call_user_func( $callback, $message, $title, $args );
}

Hooks

apply_filters( ‘wp_die_ajax_handler’, callable $callback )

Filters the callback for killing WordPress execution for Ajax requests.

apply_filters( ‘wp_die_handler’, callable $callback )

Filters the callback for killing WordPress execution for all non-Ajax, non-JSON, non-XML requests.

apply_filters( ‘wp_die_jsonp_handler’, callable $callback )

Filters the callback for killing WordPress execution for JSONP REST requests.

apply_filters( ‘wp_die_json_handler’, callable $callback )

Filters the callback for killing WordPress execution for JSON requests.

apply_filters( ‘wp_die_xmlrpc_handler’, callable $callback )

Filters the callback for killing WordPress execution for XML-RPC requests.

apply_filters( ‘wp_die_xml_handler’, callable $callback )

Filters the callback for killing WordPress execution for XML requests.

Changelog

VersionDescription
5.5.0The $text_direction argument has a priority over get_language_attributes() in the default handler.
5.3.0The $charset argument was added.
5.1.0The $link_url, $link_text, and $exit arguments were added.
4.1.0The $title and $args parameters were changed to optionally accept an integer to be used as the response code.
2.0.4Introduced.

User Contributed Notes

  1. Skip to note 3 content

    Test to see what is in the $post variable in a filter:

    /**
     * Add new body class.
     *
     * Testing what is in the $post variable.
     *
     * @param array $classes Body classes.
     */
    function wpdocs_add_body_class( $classes ) {
    	/** @global WP_Post $post */
    	global $post;
    
    	wp_die( '<pre>' . var_export( $post, true ) . '</pre>' );
    }
    add_filter( 'body_class', 'wpdocs_add_body_class' );
  2. Skip to note 4 content

    You can use wp_die() at the end of function to close an AJAX request. You receive HTML code for example and you can use it by JS. But consider using wp_send_json() instead if you need to return a correct string value to an AJAX request. (I assume you can return also arrays or objects). Codex indicates that wp_send_json() uses wp_die().

    wp_die( 'string' ) // received by JS as '\nstring' 
    wp_send_json( 'string' ) // received by JS as 'string'

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