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

---

# apply_filters( ‘wp_generate_tag_cloud’, string[]|string $return, WP_Term[] $tags, array $args )

## In this article

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

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

Filters the generated output of a tag cloud.

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

The filter is only evaluated if a true value is passed to the $filter argument in
[wp_generate_tag_cloud()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_generate_tag_cloud/).

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

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

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

 `$return`string[]|string

String containing the generated HTML tag cloud output or an array of tag links if
the `'format'` argument equals `'array'`.

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

An array of terms used in the tag cloud.

`$args`array

An array of [wp_generate_tag_cloud()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_generate_tag_cloud/)
arguments.

More Arguments from wp_generate_tag_cloud( … $args )

Array or string of arguments for generating a tag cloud.

 * `smallest` int
 * Smallest font size used to display tags. Paired with the value of `$unit`, to
   determine CSS text size unit. Default 8 (pt).
 * `largest` int
 * Largest font size used to display tags. Paired with the value of `$unit`, to 
   determine CSS text size unit. Default 22 (pt).
 * `unit` string
 * CSS text size unit to use with the `$smallest` and `$largest` values. Accepts
   any valid CSS text size unit. Default `'pt'`.
 * `number` int
 * The number of tags to return. Accepts any positive integer or zero to return 
   all.
    Default 0.
 * `format` string
 * Format to display the tag cloud in. Accepts `'flat'` (tags separated with spaces),`'
   list'` (tags displayed in an unordered list), or `'array'` (returns an array).
   
   Default `'flat'`.
 * `separator` string
 * HTML or text to separate the tags. Default "n" (newline).
 * `orderby` string
 * Value to order tags by. Accepts `'name'` or `'count'`.
    Default `'name'`. The
   ['tag_cloud_sort'](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/tag_cloud_sort/)
   filter can also affect how tags are sorted.
 * `order` string
 * How to order the tags. Accepts `'ASC'` (ascending), `'DESC'` (descending), or`'
   RAND'` (random). Default `'ASC'`.
 * `filter` int|bool
 * Whether to enable filtering of the final output via ['wp_generate_tag_cloud'](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/wp_generate_tag_cloud/).
   Default 1.
 * `topic_count_text` array
 * Nooped plural text from [_n_noop()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/_n_noop/)
   to supply to tag counts. Default null.
 * `topic_count_text_callback` callable
 * Callback used to generate nooped plural text for tag counts based on the count.
   Default null.
 * `topic_count_scale_callback` callable
 * Callback used to determine the tag count scaling value. Default [default_topic_count_scale()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/default_topic_count_scale/).
 * `show_count` bool|int
 * Whether to display the tag counts. Default 0. Accepts 0, 1, or their bool equivalents.

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

    ```php
    return apply_filters( 'wp_generate_tag_cloud', $return, $tags, $args );
    ```

[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#L1054)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/category-template.php#L1054-L1054)

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

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

Generates a tag cloud (heatmap) from provided data.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [2.3.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.3.0/) | Introduced. |

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