Trusted WordPress tutorials, when you need them most.
Beginner’s Guide to WordPress
WPB Cup
25 Million+
Websites using our plugins
16+
Years of WordPress experience
3000+
WordPress tutorials
by experts

How to Allow PHP in WordPress Posts and Pages (Easy Tutorial)

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on WPBeginner. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations. Learn more about Editorial Process.

Do you want to allow PHP in your WordPress posts and pages?

By adding custom code to your site, you can fine-tune WordPress to better suit your needs. However, by default, WordPress does not let you add PHP directly to your pages or posts.

In this article, we will show you how to allow custom PHP in WordPress posts and pages.

How to allow PHP in WordPress posts and pages

Why Allow PHP in WordPress Posts and Pages?

If you try typing PHP code directly into the WordPress block editor, then you will notice that WordPress strips away a lot of your code or even deletes it entirely.

WordPress doesn’t allow PHP in posts and pages for security reasons. This is because a simple mistake in your PHP code can cause all sorts of common WordPress errors.

However, there are some cases where you may need to add PHP to WordPress posts and pages.

For example, if you make money through affiliate marketing, then you might need to add advertising code to your site.

You may also have developed your own PHP functions. For example, you can use custom PHP to validate user logins on your site’s members-only pages.

With that being said, let’s see how you can allow PHP in WordPress posts and pages.

Allowing PHP in WordPress Posts and Pages

The easiest way to allow PHP code in WordPress posts and pages is by using WPCode. This plugin allows you to create as many code snippets as you want and then add them to your desired post(s) or page(s).

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the free WPCode plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, head over to Code Snippets » Add Snippet.

How to add a shortcode in WordPress

Here, you will see all the ready-made snippets you can add to your website. These include snippets that allow you to completely disable WordPress comments, upload files that WordPress doesn’t support by default, and more.

Since you are creating a new snippet, you need to hover over ‘Add Your Custom Code.’ Then, click on ‘Use snippet.’

Adding custom PHP to WordPress

To start, type in a title for the custom code snippet. This can be anything that helps you identify the snippet in the WordPress admin area.

After that, open the ‘Code Type’ dropdown and select ‘PHP Snippet.’

How to add a custom PHP snippet to WordPress

In the code editor, simply either type in or paste the code that you want to use.

In the following image, we are creating a snippet that shows the post’s publication date.

Adding a custom PHP snippet using WPCode

After that, scroll to the ‘Insertion’ section.

WPCode offers two ways to insert PHP in pages and posts: by choosing a page-specific location or through shortcodes.

Choosing between Auto Insert or Shortcode insert methods in WPCode

Let’s explore each option one by one:

Inserting PHP Codes in a Page-Specific Location

If you choose the ‘Auto Insert’ method, you can select the ‘Page-Specific’ option and choose where to insert the PHP code snippet.

It can be before the post content, after it, before a specific paragraph, and so on.

Page-specific location options to insert custom code snippets in WPCode

This method is recommended if you want to insert PHP code in all of your pages and/or posts at once. Once you have chosen a location, you can click on the ‘Inactive’ toggle so that it changes to ‘Active.’

Finally, click on ‘Save Snippet’ to make the snippet live.

Saving custom PHP snippets in WordPress

Now, if you only want to add the code snippet in individual pages or posts, then we recommend the shortcode option.

Inserting PHP Codes Using Shortcodes

Since we want to add the custom PHP using shortcode, click on ‘Shortcode.’ WPCode will now show the shortcode that you can add to any page, post, or widget-ready area.

Allowing PHP code in WordPress pages and posts

Pro Tip: If you upgrade to WPCode Pro, you can create a custom shortcode. This feature will come in handy if you have created multiple shortcodes and need to differentiate them.

After that, just make the code snippet active and click ‘Save Snippet.’

Once you have done that, you are ready to add the custom PHP to your WordPress website by opening any page or post.

In the block editor, simply click on the ‘+’ button and type in ‘Shortcode.’ When it appears, select the Shortcode block to add it to the page or post.

How to add a shortcode block to WordPress

You can now paste the shortcode into this block. For more information, please see our beginner’s guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

When you are ready to make the code live, either publish or update the page. Now, if we visit our website, then we will see the shortcode in action.

If you want to test the steps in this article further, you can read these guides:

How to Manage Your PHP Code Snippets

Now that you know how to create custom PHP code snippets, let’s learn how to manage them properly.

To do that, simply go to Code Snippets » Code Snippets.

Enabling and disabling custom PHP code in WordPress

At some point, you may want to remove a custom PHP snippet from your entire website. In this case, you can deactivate the snippet, as this will disable it for every page or post.

To do this, you can just find the code that you want to deactivate and click on its toggle to turn it from Enabled (Blue) to Disabled (Grey).

After that, it’s a good idea to visit your website and check that the deactivated code isn’t causing any problems. If you use the shortcode method, you also need to make sure that all of the shortcode block instances have been removed.

Let’s say you have many code snippets and find that some have been deactivated for a long time. If you won’t be using them any longer, then you can delete them to remove any unnecessary code snippets on your site.

Simply hover over the snippet that you want to delete and then click on ‘Trash’ when it shows up.

Deleting custom PHP code from WordPress

We hope this article has helped you to allow PHP in your WordPress posts and pages. You can also see our top tips to boost WordPress speed and performance and our expert picks for the must-have WordPress plugins to grow your website.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. See how WPBeginner is funded, why it matters, and how you can support us. Here's our editorial process.

Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

Get FREE access to our toolkit - a collection of WordPress related products and resources that every professional should have!

Reader Interactions

6 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

    Hey WPBeginner readers,
    Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
    Every month, our top blog commenters will win HUGE rewards, including premium WordPress plugin licenses and cash prizes.
    You can get more details about the contest from here.
    Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!

  2. fastasleep says

    Put something like this in your template to create a javascript var to store the path, then use javascript to write it in your content?

    (removed some chars so this will show up –

    var templateDir = “<php bloginfo(‘template_directory’)>”;

Leave a Reply to Mohamed Tair Cancel reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.

WPBeginner Assistant
How can I help you?

By chatting, you consent to this chat being stored according to our privacy policy and your email will be added to receive weekly WordPress tutorials from WPBeginner.