Title: if term exists problem with wp_insert_term
Last modified: August 30, 2016

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# if term exists problem with wp_insert_term

 *  [martiniboy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/martiniboy/)
 * (@martiniboy)
 * [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/if-term-exists-problem-with-wp_insert_term/)
 * Hi I hope somebody will be able to help me, I am building a site which allows
   users to add products from the front end to a woocommerce its all working well
   except I am not able to check whether a product category exists and if it does
   link the product to it or if doesn’t create the term/ product category and link
   it to it (allowing for multiple categories below is the code which I have
 *     ```
       foreach ($mycategories as $mycat){
       	$myterm = term_exists($mycat->Name, 'product_cat');
       if ($myterm !== 0 && $myterm !== null) {
        	$cat_ID_array = 	get_term_by( 'name', $cat->Name, 'product_cat');
       $cat_ID = $cat_ID_array->term_id;
       } else {
        $cat_name = $cat->Name;
          $catid = wp_insert_term($cat_name, 'product_cat');
       <em>$cat_ID = $catid['term_id'];</em>
   
       }
       	 echo '<input type="checkbox" name="prod_category[]" checked value="'.$cat_ID.'" ><label>'.$cat->Name.'</label>';
       	}
       foreach ($subcategories as $subcat){
       	$subterm = term_exists($subcat->Name, 'product_cat');
       if ($subterm !== 0 && $subterm !== null) {
        	$subcat_ID_array = 	get_term_by( 'name', $subcat->Name, 'product_cat');
       $subcat_ID = $subcat_ID_array->term_id;
       } else {
        $subcat_name = $subcat->Name;
          $subcatid = wp_insert_term($subcat_name, 'product_cat');
       	$subcat_ID = $subcatid['term_id'];
       }
       	 echo '<input type="checkbox" name="prod_category[]" checked value="'.$subcat_ID.'" ><label>'.$subcat->Name.'</label>';
       	}
       ```
   
 * I am getting an error on the line = $cat_ID = $catid[‘term_id’];
 * Fatal error: Cannot use object of type WP_Error as array in…..formsubmission.
   php on line 226
 * Can anyone point me in the right direction please ?

The topic ‘if term exists problem with wp_insert_term’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [term_exists](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/term_exists/)
 * [wp_insert_term](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/wp_insert_term/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 0 replies
 * 1 participant
 * Last reply from: [martiniboy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/martiniboy/)
 * Last activity: [10 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/if-term-exists-problem-with-wp_insert_term/)
 * Status: not resolved

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