A Simple Guide to Check and Process WordPress Return WP_Error Object – WordPress Tutorial

In wordpress, many functions return a WP_Error object when fail to process. In this tutorial, we will introduce how to check and process this object.

For example, in wordpress wp_insert_post() can insert a post into database. We should check the process of inserting post is successful or not.

wp_insert_post( array $postarr, bool $wp_error = false )

When $wp_error = true, if we fail to insert a wordpress post, this function will return a wp_error object.

To check the return value is wp_error object, we can use is_wp_error() function.

is_wp_error( mixed $thing )

This function can check whether variable is a WordPress Error.

if ( is_wp_error( $result ) ) {
    $error_string = $result->get_error_message();
    echo '<div id="message" class="error"><p>' . $error_string . '</p></div>';
}

Then we can implement different processes when the return value is wp_error object.