Are you looking for a way to use WordPress text widget to run PHP codes? While there’s probably a plugin for this, we have created a quick code snippet that you can use to run PHP codes in WordPress text widget.
Instructions:
All you have to do is add this code to your theme’s functions.php file or in a site-specific plugin:
function widget_text_exec_php( $widget_text ) {
if( strpos( $widget_text, '<' . '?' ) !== false ) {
ob_start();
eval( '?>' . $widget_text );
$widget_text = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
}
return $widget_text;
}
add_filter( 'widget_text', 'widget_text_exec_php', 99 );
Make sure that you use the standard tag while adding PHP codes in the Text widget.
Note: If this is your first time adding code snippets in WordPress, then please refer to our guide on how to properly add code snippets in WordPress, so you don’t accidentally break your site.
If you liked this code snippet, please consider checking out our other articles on the site like: 10 best WordPress plugins for web developers and how to save partial form data in WordPress.
When trying to add my code to the widget, I keep getting the message “Special characters must be escaped.” What am I doing wrong?
You won’t be able to add this code to a Custom HTML widget, as the code is PHP and not HTML.
Check out this guide for instructions on how to add PHP code to your site: https://www.isitwp.com/properly-add-code-snippets-wordpress-site/