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Sanitizes a string into a slug, which can be used in URLs or HTML attributes.

Description

By default, converts accent characters to ASCII characters and further limits the output to alphanumeric characters, underscore (_) and dash (-) through the ‘sanitize_title’ filter.

If $title is empty and $fallback_title is set, the latter will be used.

Parameters

$titlestringrequired: The string to be sanitized.
$fallback_titlestringoptional: A title to use if $title is empty. Default empty.
$contextstringoptional: The operation for which the string is sanitized.
When set to 'save', the string runs through remove_accents() .
Default 'save'.

The ‘save’ context is used most often when saving a value in the database, but is used for other purposes as well. The ‘query’ context is used by sanitize_title_for_query() when the value is going to be used in the WHERE clause of a query.

Source

function sanitize_title( $title, $fallback_title = '', $context = 'save' ) {
	$raw_title = $title;

	if ( 'save' === $context ) {
		$title = remove_accents( $title );
	}

	/**
	 * Filters a sanitized title string.
	 *
	 * @since 1.2.0
	 *
	 * @param string $title     Sanitized title.
	 * @param string $raw_title The title prior to sanitization.
	 * @param string $context   The context for which the title is being sanitized.
	 */
	$title = apply_filters( 'sanitize_title', $title, $raw_title, $context );

	if ( '' === $title || false === $title ) {
		$title = $fallback_title;
	}

	return $title;
}

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Hooks

apply_filters( ‘sanitize_title’, string $title, string $raw_title, string $context ): Filters a sanitized title string.

Uses	Description
remove_accents()`wp-includes/formatting.php`	Converts all accent characters to ASCII characters.
apply_filters()`wp-includes/plugin.php`	Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.

Used by	Description
WP_Theme_JSON::compute_spacing_sizes()`wp-includes/class-wp-theme-json.php`	Generates a set of spacing sizes by starting with a medium size and applying an operator with an increment value to generate the rest of the sizes outward from the medium size. The medium slug is ’50’ with the rest of the slugs being 10 apart. The generated names use t-shirt sizing.
WP_Font_Collection::get_sanitization_schema()`wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-collection.php`	Retrieves the font collection sanitization schema.
WP_Font_Collection::__construct()`wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-collection.php`	WP_Font_Collection constructor.
WP_REST_Font_Faces_Controller::prepare_item_for_database()`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-font-faces-controller.php`	Prepares a single font face post for creation.
WP_REST_Font_Families_Controller::prepare_item_for_database()`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-font-families-controller.php`	Prepares a single font family post for create or update.
_register_remote_theme_patterns()`wp-includes/block-patterns.php`	Registers patterns from Pattern Directory provided by a theme’s `theme.json` file.
_load_remote_featured_patterns()`wp-includes/block-patterns.php`	Register `Featured` (category) patterns from wordpress.org/patterns.
_load_remote_block_patterns()`wp-includes/block-patterns.php`	Register Core’s official patterns from wordpress.org/patterns.
WP_REST_Attachments_Controller::insert_attachment()`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-attachments-controller.php`	Inserts the attachment post in the database. Does not update the attachment meta.
WP_Customize_Manager::import_theme_starter_content()`wp-includes/class-wp-customize-manager.php`	Imports theme starter content into the customized state.
WP_Customize_Manager::prepare_starter_content_attachments()`wp-includes/class-wp-customize-manager.php`	Prepares starter content attachments.
wp_update_custom_css_post()`wp-includes/theme.php`	Updates the `custom_css` post for a given theme.
wp_get_custom_css_post()`wp-includes/theme.php`	Fetches the `custom_css` post for a given theme.
WP_REST_Controller::sanitize_slug()`wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-controller.php`	Sanitizes the slug value.
WP_Customize_Nav_Menus::insert_auto_draft_post()`wp-includes/class-wp-customize-nav-menus.php`	Adds a new `auto-draft` post.
WP_Customize_Nav_Menu_Setting::filter_wp_get_nav_menus()`wp-includes/customize/class-wp-customize-nav-menu-setting.php`	Filters the wp_get_nav_menus() result to ensure the inserted menu object is included, and the deleted one is removed.
WP_Customize_Nav_Menu_Setting::filter_wp_get_nav_menu_object()`wp-includes/customize/class-wp-customize-nav-menu-setting.php`	Filters the wp_get_nav_menu_object() result to supply the previewed menu object.
wp_install_maybe_enable_pretty_permalinks()`wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php`	Maybe enable pretty permalinks on installation.
WP_Plugins_List_Table::single_row()`wp-admin/includes/class-wp-plugins-list-table.php`
update_nag()`wp-admin/includes/update.php`	Returns core update notification message.
make_site_theme()`wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php`	Creates a site theme.
wp_install_defaults()`wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php`	Creates the initial content for a newly-installed site.
add_menu_page()`wp-admin/includes/plugin.php`	Adds a top-level menu page.
media_handle_upload()`wp-admin/includes/media.php`	Saves a file submitted from a POST request and create an attachment post for it.
media_handle_sideload()`wp-admin/includes/media.php`	Handles a side-loaded file in the same way as an uploaded file is handled by media_handle_upload() .
get_sample_permalink()`wp-admin/includes/post.php`	Returns a sample permalink based on the post name.
_wp_ajax_add_hierarchical_term()`wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php`	Handles adding a hierarchical term via AJAX.
wp_ajax_add_link_category()`wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php`	Handles adding a link category via AJAX.
list_core_update()`wp-admin/update-core.php`	Lists available core updates.
sanitize_title_for_query()`wp-includes/formatting.php`	Sanitizes a title with the ‘query’ context.
register_widget_control()`wp-includes/deprecated.php`	Registers widget control callback for customizing options.
register_sidebar_widget()`wp-includes/deprecated.php`	Register widget for sidebar with backward compatibility.
get_category_by_path()`wp-includes/category.php`	Retrieves a category based on URL containing the category slug.
wp_update_term()`wp-includes/taxonomy.php`	Updates term based on arguments provided.
wp_insert_term()`wp-includes/taxonomy.php`	Adds a new term to the database.
term_exists()`wp-includes/taxonomy.php`	Determines whether a taxonomy term exists.
register_taxonomy()`wp-includes/taxonomy.php`	Creates or modifies a taxonomy object.
permalink_anchor()`wp-includes/link-template.php`	Displays the permalink anchor for the current post.
WP_Admin_Bar::add_node()`wp-includes/class-wp-admin-bar.php`	Adds a node to the menu.
wp_insert_user()`wp-includes/user.php`	Inserts a user into the database.
wp_insert_post()`wp-includes/post.php`	Inserts or update a post.
dynamic_sidebar()`wp-includes/widgets.php`	Displays dynamic sidebar.
is_active_sidebar()`wp-includes/widgets.php`	Determines whether a sidebar contains widgets.

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Changelog

Version	Description
1.0.0	Introduced.

User Contributed Notes

Skip to note 5 content

Codex 11 years ago

You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 5You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
WordPress Titles
To create the file name portion of a URL the same way that WordPress does use this:
```
<?php
  $new_url = sanitize_title('This Long Title is what My Post or Page might be');
  echo $new_url;
?>
```
It should return a formatted value, the output would be this:

this-long-title-is-what-my-post-or-page-might-be
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kwaves 6 years ago

You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 1You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

As was noted in the codex reference page for this function:

Despite the name of this function, the returned value is intended to be suitable for use in a URL, not as a human-readable title.

So My Excellent Sentence becomes my-excellent-sentence for example.

This is because this function applies a filter of the same name to which WordPress adds sanitize_title_with_dashes by default.

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凱寧 5 years ago

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If title is Chinese, its not suitable as a HTML attributes.
Because the function will converts words to ASCII characters.It will be a disaster.
```
$str = "這是字串";
$str = sanitize_title( $str );
echo $str; // it will echo "%e9%80%99%e6%98%af%e5%ad%97%e4%b8%b2"
```
- The percent-encoding produces the desired effect. The function output is intended for URLs, so it protects many multi-byte characters from getting corrupted. When using such a value in a URL, the correct way to encode it is https://wp.example/%e9%80%99%e6%98%af%e5%ad%97%e4%b8%b2, because that is what needs to be used in href attributes, and is what is transmitted to a web server in a request. However what web browsers will typically show you (in the address bar, when hovering over links, etc.) is the decoded equivalent, like https://wp.example/這是字串. This means your URL complies with Internet standards, but also remains readable when actually used.
  
  Roy Orbitson 2 years ago
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Ramon Ahnert 10 months ago

You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 0You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

JS alternative: cleanForSlug from @wordpress/url package.

According to the documentation:

> This replicates some of what sanitize_title() does in WordPress core, but is only designed to approximate what the slug will be.

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sanitize_title( string $title, string $fallback_title, string $context ): string

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