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Add WordPress Categories and Tags Programmatically

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There are some instances where you might want to add default WordPress Categories and Tags programmatically. You can use the init action hook in conjunction with wp_update_term / term_exisits / wp_insert_term functions to accomplish this.

Replace:

‘category’: with the name of the custom taxonomy you would like to add default terms to, or use post_tag to add WordPress tags

/**
 * Add default post categories
 */
add_action('init', function () {

    // Update the default category 'uncategorized'
	wp_update_term(
        1,
		'category',
		array(
          'name'        => 'Category Name',
		  'description'	=> 'Some description',
		  'slug' 		=> 'category-slug'
		)
    );

    // Check if new category exists - if not, add it
    if (!term_exists('new-category-slug', 'category')) {
		wp_insert_term(
			'New Category Name',
			'category',
			array(
				'description' => 'Some description',
				'slug'		  => 'new-category-slug'
			)
		);
    }
    
    // If you have many terms to add use an array
    $days_of_week = array('sunday' => 'Sun', 'monday' => 'Mon', 'tuesday' => 'Tue', 'wednesday' => 'Wed', 'thursday' => 'Thurs', 'friday' => 'Fri', 'saturday' => 'Sat');
    foreach ( $days_of_week as $slug => $name ) {
        if( !term_exists( $name, 'category' ) ) {
            wp_insert_term(
                $name,
                'category',
                array(
			  		'description' => '',
                	'slug'        => $slug
                )
            );
        }
    }
});