gistfile1.txt

function mit_gb_id_for_term($term_name,$vid)
{
	$ret = NULL;
	$query = new EntityFieldQuery;
	$result = $query
	  ->entityCondition('entity_type', 'taxonomy_term')
	  ->propertyCondition('name', $term_name)
	  ->propertyCondition('vid', $vid)
	  ->execute();
	  // die(print_r(array_keys($result['taxonomy_term'])));
	if ($result) {
        $ids = array_keys($result['taxonomy_term']);
	  $ret = $ids[0];
	} else {
	  $term = new STDClass();
	  $term->name = $term_name;
	  $term->vid = $vid;
	  $saved_term = taxonomy_term_save($term);
      $ret = $saved_term->id;
	}
	return $ret;

}