Title: wp_get_global_settings Published: February 3, 2022 Last modified: May 20, 2026 --- # wp_get_global_settings( array $path = array(), array $context = array() ): mixed ## In this article * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#parameters) * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#return) * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#source) * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#related) * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#changelog) * [User Contributed Notes](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#user-contributed-notes) [ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target) Gets the settings resulting of merging core, theme, and user data. ## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿 `$path`arrayoptional Path to the specific setting to retrieve. Optional. If empty, will return all settings. Default:`array()` `$context`arrayoptional Metadata to know where to retrieve the $path from. Optional. * `block_name` string * Which block to retrieve the settings from. If empty, it’ll return the settings for the global context. * `origin` string * Which origin to take data from. Valid values are `'all'` (core, theme, and user) or `'base'` (core and theme). If empty or unknown, `'all'` is used. Default:`array()` ## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#return)󠁿 mixed The settings array or individual setting value to retrieve. ## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#source)󠁿 ```php function wp_get_global_settings( $path = array(), $context = array() ) { if ( ! empty( $context['block_name'] ) ) { $new_path = array( 'blocks', $context['block_name'] ); foreach ( $path as $subpath ) { $new_path[] = $subpath; } $path = $new_path; } /* * This is the default value when no origin is provided or when it is 'all'. * * The $origin is used as part of the cache key. Changes here need to account * for clearing the cache appropriately. */ $origin = 'custom'; if ( isset( $context['origin'] ) && 'base' === $context['origin'] ) { $origin = 'theme'; } /* * By using the 'theme_json' group, this data is marked to be non-persistent across requests. * See `wp_cache_add_non_persistent_groups` in src/wp-includes/load.php and other places. * * The rationale for this is to make sure derived data from theme.json * is always fresh from the potential modifications done via hooks * that can use dynamic data (modify the stylesheet depending on some option, * settings depending on user permissions, etc.). * See some of the existing hooks to modify theme.json behavior: * https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/10/10/filters-for-theme-json-data/ * * A different alternative considered was to invalidate the cache upon certain * events such as options add/update/delete, user meta, etc. * It was judged not enough, hence this approach. * See https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/45372 */ $cache_group = 'theme_json'; $cache_key = 'wp_get_global_settings_' . $origin; /* * Ignore cache when the development mode is set to 'theme', so it doesn't interfere with the theme * developer's workflow. */ $can_use_cached = ! wp_is_development_mode( 'theme' ); $settings = false; if ( $can_use_cached ) { $settings = wp_cache_get( $cache_key, $cache_group ); } if ( false === $settings ) { $settings = WP_Theme_JSON_Resolver::get_merged_data( $origin )->get_settings(); if ( $can_use_cached ) { wp_cache_set( $cache_key, $settings, $cache_group ); } } return _wp_array_get( $settings, $path, $settings ); } ``` [View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/global-styles-and-settings.php/) [View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/global-styles-and-settings.php#L26) [View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/global-styles-and-settings.php#L26-L84) ## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#related)󠁿 | Uses | Description | | [wp_is_development_mode()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_is_development_mode/)`wp-includes/load.php` | Checks whether the site is in the given development mode. | | [WP_Theme_JSON_Resolver::get_merged_data()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_theme_json_resolver/get_merged_data/)`wp-includes/class-wp-theme-json-resolver.php` | Returns the data merged from multiple origins. | | [_wp_array_get()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/_wp_array_get/)`wp-includes/functions.php` | Accesses an array in depth based on a path of keys. | | [wp_cache_set()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_cache_set/)`wp-includes/cache.php` | Saves the data to the cache. | | [wp_cache_get()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_cache_get/)`wp-includes/cache.php` | Retrieves the cache contents from the cache by key and group. | [Show 1 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#) [Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#) | Used by | Description | | [WP_Font_Face_Resolver::get_fonts_from_theme_json()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_font_face_resolver/get_fonts_from_theme_json/)`wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-face-resolver.php` | Gets fonts defined in theme.json. | | [WP_Duotone::get_all_global_styles_presets()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_duotone/get_all_global_styles_presets/)`wp-includes/class-wp-duotone.php` | Scrape all possible duotone presets from global and theme styles and store them in self::$global_styles_presets. | | [get_block_editor_settings()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_block_editor_settings/)`wp-includes/block-editor.php` | Returns the contextualized block editor settings for a selected editor context. | ## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿 | Version | Description | | [5.9.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/5.9.0/) | Introduced. | ## 󠀁[User Contributed Notes](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#user-contributed-notes)󠁿 1. [Skip to note 2 content](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/?output_format=md#comment-content-6805) 2. [jdmweb](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jdmweb/) [ 2 years ago ](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_global_settings/#comment-6805) 3. [You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note](https://login.wordpress.org?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Ffunctions%2Fwp_get_global_settings%2F%23comment-6805) Vote results for this note: 0[You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note](https://login.wordpress.org?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Ffunctions%2Fwp_get_global_settings%2F%23comment-6805) 4. To know how to use the `$path` argument with `wp_get_global_settings()` to retrieve a specific setting, you can try it without first. 5. ```php $settings = wp_get_global_settings(); var_dump($settings); ``` 6. This gives you a formatted array of every available settings, from this, you can locate the setting you’d like to retrieve. 7. For example, **gradients** are located in `$settings['color']['gradients']['theme']` 8. Take the `$settings` path, here it’s : `['color']['gradients']['theme']`, and transform that in a flat array like this : `['color','gradients','theme']`, this is the value you need to pass as the `$path` argument with `wp_get_global_settings( $path)`. 9. **Example 1**, if you’d like to retrieve gradients specified in the theme.json for example, you could use the path argument like so : 10. ```php $gradients = wp_get_global_settings( array( 'color', 'gradients', 'theme' ) ); ``` 11. **Example 2**, to retrieve the spacing scale : 12. ```php $spacingScale = wp_get_global_settings( array( 'spacing', 'spacingScale' ) ); ``` 13. 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