gcdb::prepare()

	public function prepare( $query, ...$args ) {
		if ( is_null( $query ) ) {
			return;
		}

		// This is not meant to be foolproof -- but it will catch obviously incorrect usage.
		if ( strpos( $query, '%' ) === false ) {
			gc_load_translations_early();
			_doing_it_wrong(
				'gcdb::prepare',
				sprintf(
					/* translators: %s: gcdb::prepare() */
					__( 'The query argument of %s must have a placeholder.' ),
					'gcdb::prepare()'
				),
				'3.9.0'
			);
		}

		// If args were passed as an array (as in vsprintf), move them up.
		$passed_as_array = false;
		if ( is_array( $args[0] ) && count( $args ) === 1 ) {
			$passed_as_array = true;
			$args            = $args[0];
		}

		foreach ( $args as $arg ) {
			if ( ! is_scalar( $arg ) && ! is_null( $arg ) ) {
				gc_load_translations_early();
				_doing_it_wrong(
					'gcdb::prepare',
					sprintf(
						/* translators: %s: Value type. */
						__( 'Unsupported value type (%s).' ),
						gettype( $arg )
					),
					'4.8.2'
				);
			}
		}

		/*
		 * Specify the formatting allowed in a placeholder. The following are allowed:
		 *
		 * - Sign specifier. eg, $+d
		 * - Numbered placeholders. eg, %1$s
		 * - Padding specifier, including custom padding characters. eg, %05s, %'#5s
		 * - Alignment specifier. eg, %05-s
		 * - Precision specifier. eg, %.2f
		 */
		$allowed_format = '(?:[1-9][0-9]*[$])?[-+0-9]*(?: |0|'.)?[-+0-9]*(?:.[0-9]+)?';

		/*
		 * If a %s placeholder already has quotes around it, removing the existing quotes and re-inserting them
		 * ensures the quotes are consistent.
		 *
		 * For backward compatibility, this is only applied to %s, and not to placeholders like %1$s, which are frequently
		 * used in the middle of longer strings, or as table name placeholders.
		 */
		$query = str_replace( "'%s'", '%s', $query ); // Strip any existing single quotes.
		$query = str_replace( '"%s"', '%s', $query ); // Strip any existing double quotes.
		$query = preg_replace( '/(?<!%)%s/', "'%s'", $query ); // Quote the strings, avoiding escaped strings like %%s.

		$query = preg_replace( "/(?<!%)(%($allowed_format)?f)/", '%\2F', $query ); // Force floats to be locale-unaware.

		$query = preg_replace( "/%(?:%|$|(?!($allowed_format)?[sdF]))/", '%%\1', $query ); // Escape any unescaped percents.

		// Count the number of valid placeholders in the query.
		$placeholders = preg_match_all( "/(^|[^%]|(%%)+)%($allowed_format)?[sdF]/", $query, $matches );

		$args_count = count( $args );

		if ( $args_count !== $placeholders ) {
			if ( 1 === $placeholders && $passed_as_array ) {
				// If the passed query only expected one argument, but the wrong number of arguments were sent as an array, bail.
				gc_load_translations_early();
				_doing_it_wrong(
					'gcdb::prepare',
					__( 'The query only expected one placeholder, but an array of multiple placeholders was sent.' ),
					'4.9.0'
				);

				return;
			} else {
				/*
				 * If we don't have the right number of placeholders, but they were passed as individual arguments,
				 * or we were expecting multiple arguments in an array, throw a warning.
				 */
				gc_load_translations_early();
				_doing_it_wrong(
					'gcdb::prepare',
					sprintf(
						/* translators: 1: Number of placeholders, 2: Number of arguments passed. */
						__( 'The query does not contain the correct number of placeholders (%1$d) for the number of arguments passed (%2$d).' ),
						$placeholders,
						$args_count
					),
					'4.8.3'
				);

				/*
				 * If we don't have enough arguments to match the placeholders,
				 * return an empty string to avoid a fatal error on PHP 8.
				 */
				if ( $args_count < $placeholders ) {
					$max_numbered_placeholder = ! empty( $matches[3] ) ? max( array_map( 'intval', $matches[3] ) ) : 0;

					if ( ! $max_numbered_placeholder || $args_count < $max_numbered_placeholder ) {
						return '';
					}
				}
			}
		}

		array_walk( $args, array( $this, 'escape_by_ref' ) );
		$query = vsprintf( $query, $args );

		return $this->add_placeholder_escape( $query );
	}