Using WordPress ‘create_initial_taxonomies()’ PHP function

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The create_initial_taxonomies() WordPress PHP function is used to create the initial taxonomies. It is fired twice, once in wp-settings.php before plugins are loaded (for backward compatibility reasons), and again on the ‘init’ action. It is crucial to avoid registering rewrite rules before the ‘init’ action.

Usage

Here’s a basic example of how to use the function:

add_action( 'init', 'create_initial_taxonomies', 0 );

Parameters

The create_initial_taxonomies() function does not have any parameters.

More Information

See WordPress Developer Resources: create_initial_taxonomies

This function is integral to WordPress and there’s no sign of deprecation. It is typically not used by developers directly as it’s more of a core function that WordPress uses internally.

Examples

Check if Taxonomies are Created

if ( taxonomy_exists('category') && taxonomy_exists('post_tag') && taxonomy_exists('nav_menu') && taxonomy_exists('link_category') ) {
echo "Initial taxonomies created!";
}

In this example, we are checking if the initial taxonomies, like ‘category’, ‘post_tag’, ‘nav_menu’, and ‘link_category’, exist. If they do, it prints “Initial taxonomies created!”.

global $wp_taxonomies;
print_r(array_keys($wp_taxonomies));

Here, we are printing all the registered taxonomies after the initial taxonomies are created.

Count Number of Taxonomies

global $wp_taxonomies;
echo count($wp_taxonomies);

In this code snippet, we are counting the number of registered taxonomies.

Remove a Taxonomy

global $wp_taxonomies;
unset($wp_taxonomies['post_tag']);

In this example, we are removing a taxonomy ‘post_tag’ from the list of registered taxonomies.

Add a New Taxonomy

add_action( 'init', 'create_my_taxonomy', 0 );
function create_my_taxonomy() {
register_taxonomy( 'my_taxonomy', 'post', array(
'label' => __( 'My Taxonomy' ),
'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => 'my_taxonomy' ),
'hierarchical' => true,
) );
}

Here, we are creating a new taxonomy ‘my_taxonomy’ after the initial taxonomies are created. We are using ‘init’ action hook to ensure it is added after WordPress has created its initial taxonomies.