update_option_no_autoload.php

<?php

/**
 * Safely update an option which may not exist yet, doing add_option() with
 * autoload=no if it doesn't. Prevent proliferation of autoloaded options.
 * 
 * Note we check to see if the option exists so we get a chance to
 * call add_option with the autoload argument. This is an ugly
 * aspect of WordPress. This is a performance consideration, to
 * prevent WordPress from needlessly querying these options with
 * every request.
 * See http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/update_option
 *
 * @param $option_name
 * @param $option_value
 *
 * @return bool
 */
function update_option_no_autoload( $option_name, $option_value ) {
	$autoload = 'no';
	$not_exists = new stdClass();
	$existing_option = get_option( $option_name, $not_exists );
	if ( $existing_option === $not_exists ) {
		return add_option( $option_name, $option_value, null, $autoload );
	} else {
		return update_option( $option_name, $option_value );
	}
}