Title: list_cats
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: April 28, 2025

---

# apply_filters( ‘list_cats’, string $element, WP_Term|null $category )

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#description)
    - [See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#see-also)
 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Filters a taxonomy drop-down display element.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

A variety of taxonomy drop-down display elements can be modified just prior to display
via this filter. Filterable arguments include ‘show_option_none’, ‘show_option_all’,
and various forms of the term name.

### 󠀁[See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#see-also)󠁿

 * [wp_dropdown_categories()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_dropdown_categories/)

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$element`string

Category name.

`$category`[WP_Term](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_term/)
|null

The category object, or null if there’s no corresponding category.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    $show_option_none = apply_filters( 'list_cats', $parsed_args['show_option_none'], null );
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/category-template.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/category-template.php#L437)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/category-template.php#L437-L437)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Used by | Description | 
| [Walker_Category::start_el()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_category/start_el/)`wp-includes/class-walker-category.php` |

Starts the element output.

  | 
| [Walker_CategoryDropdown::start_el()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_categorydropdown/start_el/)`wp-includes/class-walker-category-dropdown.php` |

Starts the element output.

  | 
| [wp_dropdown_categories()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_dropdown_categories/)`wp-includes/category-template.php` |

Displays or retrieves the HTML dropdown list of categories.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/list_cats/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [1.2.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/1.2.0/) | Introduced. |

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