I have defined my database table names as constants in a base class and use them throughout my code. protected const MAP_KEY_TABLE = 'eds_map_keys'; If I use them like this I get a warning to use place holders. $keys = $wpdb->get_results( 'SELECT * FROM ' . self::MAP_KEY_TABLE . ' WHERE key_type = "map_key"', OBJECT ); $mapkey = $keys[0]->key_value; if I use place holders like this: $keys = $wpdb->get_results( $wpdb->prepare( 'SELECT * FROM %1s WHERE key_type = "geo_key";', self::MAP_KEY_TABLE ), OBJECT ); // db call ok. $map_key_geo = $keys[0]->key_value; I get a warning that: "message": "Complex placeholders used for values in the query string in $wpdb->prepare() will NOT be quoted automagically. Found: %1s." As suggested in a comment I tried $1$s but the warning still persists. WP Version 6.1.1, PHP Version 8.0.18, PHP_CodeSniffer version 3.7.1 I don't know if the guidelines are version specific but they were installed like this. composer require --dev wp-coding-standards/wpcs composer require --dev dealerdirect/phpcodesniffer-composer-installer I'd really like to get rid of the messages about coding style but have been stuck on this one for a while. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.