How to use pre_transient_transient filter in WordPress

WordPress hooks are amazing, aren’t they? Today, let’s dive into the pre_transient_transient filter. This hook is super handy when you want to handle transients in WordPress. Now, don’t get overwhelmed by the term; we’ll break it down step-by-step.

The dynamic portion of the hook name, $transient, refers to the transient name.

To use the pre_transient_transient filter, you first need to register it using add_filter. You can place this code into the functions.php file of your activated theme or a custom WordPress Plugin.

At WePlugins, we always prefer to create a custom WordPress Plugin while using hooks. This way, nothing breaks when you update your WordPress Theme in the future.

In the below live example, we have defined a function weplugins_modify_pre_transient_transient_defaults which takes two parameters. We registered it using add_filter. The first parameter pre_transient_transient is the name of the hook. The second parameter weplugins_modify_pre_transient_transient_defaults is the name of the function that needs to be called. The third parameter is the priority of calling the hook if the same hook is used multiple times, and the last parameter is the number of arguments (if any) to be passed in the registered function.

Sometimes, you have to remove a registered hook, so you can use remove_filter to remove the pre_transient_transient filter.

Parameters

Below are the two parameters required to use this hook.

• $pre_transient: (mixed) The default value to return if the transient does not exist. Any value other than false will short-circuit the retrieval of the transient and return that value.
• $transient: (string) Transient name.

Live Example

Here are a few examples of how you can use this hook:

Example 1: Basic Usage

Below is an example of how you can use this hook.

function weplugins_modify_pre_transient_transient_defaults($pre_transient, $transient) { 
    // Update the $pre_transient variable according to your website requirements and return this variable.
    // You can modify the $pre_transient variable conditionally too if you want.
    return $pre_transient; 
}
// add the filter
add_filter("pre_transient_transient", "weplugins_modify_pre_transient_transient_defaults", 10, 2);

Example 2: Conditional Modification

Here’s how you can conditionally modify the transient:

function weplugins_modify_pre_transient_transient_defaults($pre_transient, $transient) { 
    if ($transient === 'specific_transient_name') {
        $pre_transient = 'new_value';
    }
    return $pre_transient; 
}
// add the filter
add_filter("pre_transient_transient", "weplugins_modify_pre_transient_transient_defaults", 10, 2);

Example 3: Removing the Hook

To remove a hook callback, use the example below:

remove_filter("pre_transient_transient", "weplugins_modify_pre_transient_transient_defaults", 10, 2);

Please make sure to provide the same callback function name, priority, and number of arguments while removing the hook callback.

Contact Us

If you’re having any trouble using this hook, please feel free to contact us. We’d be more than happy to assist you!