Title: Where is $comments array created? What file, what function? Last modified: August 19, 2016 --- # Where is $comments array created? What file, what function? * [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/) * I’m in my comments.php and I see that $comments is a global array that WP creates. Even if your theme uses cool new functions to get comments, $comments is still there whether you like it or not. * I want to know where it is created so I can take a look at the code. What is the problem? Well, $comments is a HUGE array, it loads all of your comments, even if you’re doing pagination or whatever. So if you have 1,000 comments on a post, it doesn’t make sense to have an array that big in memory. * I can fix the MySQL, that’s not my problem. I just can’t figure out where $comments is created. Various searches not helping me, $comments appears around 900 times in WP’s code and Google isn’t helping me either. All I need is a hint. Thanks. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 21 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/page/2/?output_format=md) * Thread Starter [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340223) * I really think this belongs in WP-Advanced but I’m not a moderator. * Thread Starter [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340251) * Ahh, looks like get_comments() is going to help me, looking into it… * Thread Starter [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340257) * Here’s the fix, if you’re wondering why your blog loads up on a huge 10,000 comment $comments array every time someone visits your most popular page, it’s the get_comments() function here: * [http://phpxref.ftwr.co.uk/wordpress/wp-includes/comment.php.source.html#l171](http://phpxref.ftwr.co.uk/wordpress/wp-includes/comment.php.source.html#l171) * You’re looking for the “number” which sets the MySQL “LIMIT” so you can get $ comments down to a reasonable size. You can hack that function or comments_template() in comment-template.php * Probably comment-template.php should set the “number” to whatever you have set in your admin under “Discussion” for comments per page, even if your theme has no idea what pagination is. * Thread Starter [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340260) * I won’t check “resolved” because I think the “number” LIMIT should be set from the admin panel somewhere, with some reasonable default like LIMIT 100. * Thread Starter [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340261) * If I have time, I will report back here tomorrow if this reduced stress on my server. * Thread Starter [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340263) * Here’s the exact change I made, in comment-template.php, after “else if”. For blogs that don’t require logins, most of your traffic will see what is selected by this “else if” because there is no $comment_author most of the time. I changed to DESC to save my theme from reversing the array, but you may have a different theme. If there’s a better way to do it, let me know. * — * /** [@todo](https://wordpress.org/support/users/todo/) Use API instead of SELECTs.*/ if ( $user_ID) { $comments = $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare(“SELECT * FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = %d AND (comment_approved = ‘1’ OR ( user_id = %d AND comment_approved = ‘0’ ) ) ORDER BY comment_date_gmt”, $post->ID, $user_ID));} else if ( empty($comment_author) ) { $comments = get_comments( array(‘post_id’ => $post->ID, ‘status’ => ‘approve’, ‘order’ => ‘DESC’, ‘number’ => ’50’) ); } else { $comments = $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare(“SELECT * FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = %d AND ( comment_approved = ‘1’ OR ( comment_author =% s AND comment_author_email = %s AND comment_approved = ‘0’ ) ) ORDER BY comment_date_gmt”, $post->ID, wp_specialchars_decode($comment_author,ENT_QUOTES), $comment_author_email));} * Thread Starter [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340266) * Ugh, it’s not working. I’m wondering if that big array is cached now? * [Clayton James](https://wordpress.org/support/users/claytonjames/) * (@claytonjames) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340273) * > if you’re wondering why your blog loads up on a huge 10,000 comment $comments > array every time someone visits your most popular page,… > …I won’t check “resolved” because I think the “number” LIMIT should be set > from the admin panel somewhere, with some reasonable default like LIMIT 100. * I’m not sure if we’re on the same page (pardon the pun) or not, but is any of this useful in any way? * [File:options-discussion1.png](http://codex.wordpress.org/images/5/55/options-discussion1.png) * My attention was drawn to the part about: * “Other comment settings” * The only other thing I wonder is, does a theme need to be coded to take advantage of those features? * Thread Starter [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340274) * Never mind, it works, but not if you’re logged in. * Thread Starter [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340275) * “is any of this useful in any way?” * That option you posted doesn’t affect the memory requirement of $comments, which is my entire reason for starting this thread. The option you’re talking about only affects the pagination of newer themes, but even if you have a more updated theme, $comments still sucks up memory if you have a lot of comments. * Unless you make the change I posted, your blog loads ALL of your comments into the $comments array, which is probably not a big deal for most blogs. But I have one post with 9000+ comments and it’s costing me a lot of cash to host that particular page, so I’m looking for ways to save memory, CPU. * Thread Starter [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340276) * To test if it’s working, add “echo count($comments);” somewhere at the top of your comments.php theme file. * [Clayton James](https://wordpress.org/support/users/claytonjames/) * (@claytonjames) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340277) * Ahhhh… I see. Thanks for the enlightenment. Got a link to your site? I would be interested to take a look at it. * Thread Starter [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340279) * If you have any questions, let me know [pj@pjbrunet.com](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/pj@pjbrunet.com?output_format=md) * [http://www.ferodynamics.com/](http://www.ferodynamics.com/) * Thread Starter [PJ Brunet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/knowingart_com/) * (@knowingart_com) * [16 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340380) * Update: I’m wondering if WP developers just assume high-traffic sites use some kind of cache now, allowing them to ignore things like this? * I was watching a video from WordCamp 2007 telling plugin developers to test on large datasets first. So why wasn’t get_comments tested with lots of comments? * Because this code is so bloated now (I would edit wp-includes all day long but then I could never upgrade) I’m trying wp-cache (also recommended in that same video) and the plugin works for a little while and then breaks. Then all pages stop loading until wp-cache is turned off. Submitting comments with wp-cache sometimes gives PHP errors due to missing cache files. Comments do not update until the cache refreshes (what?!) * [fiunchinho](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fiunchinho/) * (@fiunchinho) * [16 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/#post-1340412) * KnowingArt_com , I have the same problem. * I tried your hack and it didnt work for me. It’s like it doesnt use get_comments at all. I tried adding die(“wtf”); in the very first line of get_comments() and the function works normally. I dont see any “wtf”. It’s not using get_comments. * So I guess it’s not going through the “else if”, but the others, that are using $wpdb->get_results(): * ``` /** @todo Use API instead of SELECTs. */ if ( $user_ID) { $comments = $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = %d AND (comment_approved = '1' OR ( user_id = %d AND comment_approved = '0' ) ) ORDER BY comment_date_gmt", $post->ID, $user_ID)); } else if ( empty($comment_author) ) { $comments = get_comments( array('post_id' => $post->ID, 'status' => 'approve', 'order' => 'ASC', 'number' => '5') ); } else { $comments = $wpdb->get_results($wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = %d AND ( comment_approved = '1' OR ( comment_author = %s AND comment_author_email = %s AND comment_approved = '0' ) ) ORDER BY comment_date_gmt", $post->ID, wp_specialchars_decode($comment_author,ENT_QUOTES), $comment_author_email)); } ``` * Any suggestions? Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 21 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/page/2/?output_format=md) The topic ‘Where is $comments array created? What file, what function?’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [Comments](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/comments/) * [limit](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/limit/) * 21 replies * 5 participants * Last reply from: [yashmistrey](https://wordpress.org/support/users/yashmistrey/) * Last activity: [15 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/where-is-comments-array-created-what-file-what-function/page/2/#post-1340545) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics