What Are WordPress Hooks?

WordPress has a never-ending list of capabilities to help you expand and improve your website – one of which is WordPress hooks. What are WordPress hooks and how can they help you reach your website goals?

Hooks allow you to change or modify your site’s functionality without needing to actually edit the core code of WordPress itself.

What are WordPress Hooks? Understanding WordPress Hooks

Think of them like invitations to a party – you can customize the experience by accepting the invitation and making your own unique contribution to the party.

There are two main types of hooks:

• action hook
• filter hook

Work Hooks allow you to modify some of WordPress’ core functions to change how your website works. You can trigger them at different stages of the execution of WordPress’ native core code.

The most common example of an action hook is adding a custom piece of JavaScript code to the WordPress queue of scripts. You can do this using hooks like so:

function enqueue_custom_script() {
    wp_enqueue_script('your-unique-handle', 'some_script.js');
}
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'enqueue_custom_script');

filter Hooks are slightly different from action hooks. Instead of jumping in and taking action in the middle of a function call, they can modify the default behavior of a given function – as they filter The data on which the function operates.

A good example of a filter hook would be to limit the post excerpt to only 50 characters:

function custom_excerpt_length($length) { 
    return 50; 
} 
add_filter('excerpt_length', 'custom_excerpt_length');

Using WordPress hooks

Now we have “What are WordPress Hooks?” is the answer. Let’s see how to make and use them. It is important to know that a little knowledge of HTML and PHP is required for the hook. While adding hooks is not very difficult, knowing exactly what you want to accomplish with them does require some experience in this area.

Adding action hooks and filter hooks work the same way. but first:

Structure of a new WordPress hook

Both the action hook and the filter hook have a similar structure. Two of those elements are:

• (a) function definition that sets what the hook should do
• (b) the function call that triggers the hook to perform the action

In our examples above, (a) are our custom_excerpt_length() and enqueue_custom_script() function definitions. (b) The work is done by those add_action() and add_filter() function calls.

Adding hooks through your theme’s functions.php file

Once you have the code for your new hook ready, the most traditional way is to add it to your theme’s functions.php file. Anything you add to that file will be executed every time WordPress loads, which means every time someone visits your site.

Just copy and paste your hook at the end of the file.

Warning! If you ever update your theme to the latest version your custom hook will be removed. To prevent this, add your hook in an alternate way:

Adding Hooks via a Custom Snippet

A better way to add new hooks is to use a plugin called Code Snippets. It allows you to add custom code to your WordPress site and it doesn’t disappear when you update a theme or plugin.

With the plugin installed, go to snippets add new,

Select the type of snippet for PHP and copy and paste your snippet code into the main field.

set snippet to run”everywhere” save the changes and activate it. Your hook is now working!

Comment; It is also possible to disable an action or filter hook using remove_action() or remove_filter(). As a result, you can modify a plugin or theme with countless unnecessary hooks! Remember, these hooks can also affect the performance of your website.

Conclusion

Hooks let you modify and customize the platform, making it fit your needs perfectly. They make WordPress different from other CMS platforms, and with some knowledge of HTML and PHP, you can use hooks to customize your website.