1
WordPress Coding
Standards
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WordPress Coding Standards
If you want to make sure you are writing good PHP for
WordPress, you can use the WordPress Coding Standards…
https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress-Coding-Standards
Follow the steps on the remaining slides to set this up in
Visual Studio Code.
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Alternative Walkthrough
The steps in these slides are taken from this walkthrough…
https://www.edmundcwm.com/setting-up-wordpress-coding-standards-in-vs-code/
Mac users… follow the remaining slides or refer to that page.
Windows users… follow the remaining slides as they are a
modified version of that walkthrough.
4
Install Composer
Follow the steps here:
https://getcomposer.org/
If on Windows, during the installation wizard make sure to
select the PHP version file you are running in MAMP or
WAMP.
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MacOS – Monterey or higher
If you are running MacOS version 12 or higher, you need to
follow these additional steps:
https://wpbeaches.com/updating-to-php-versions-7-4-and-8-on-macos-12-monterey/
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Install PHP CodeSniffer (phpcs)
In your Terminal, run the following command:
composer global require "squizlabs/php_codesniffer=*"
This will install phpcs:
https://github.com/squizlabs/PHP_CodeSniffer
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Download Coding Standards
Go to this GitHub repo and switch to the “master” branch:
https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress-Coding-Standards
Click Code à Download ZIP
Extract the folder anywhere you
want to store it on your computer.
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Add Coding Standards to phpcs
Mac Users... see the next slide.
Windows Users… run a command like this:
phpcs --config-set installed_paths C:\phpcs-stuff\wpcs
Note: the end of the command should
be the full path to the extracted folder
on your computer.
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Add Coding Standards to phpcs
Mac Users... run a command like this:
path/to/phpcs --config-set installed_paths /path/to/wpcs
Note: the highlighted parts will change depending on your
paths and user name. The first is the path to phpcs and the
second is the path to the extracted GitHub code folder. For
example:
/Users/jtleathers/.composer/vendor/bin/phpcs --config-set installed_paths
/Users/jtleathers/Documents/wpcs
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Verify it Worked
On Windows, run the following command:
phpcs -i
On Mac, run a command like this:
/Users/your-username/.composer/vendor/bin/phpcs -i
You should see the WordPress coding standards listed with
some other standards.
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Install phpcs in VSCode
Search for the phpcs extension in VSCode and install it…
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Apply Standards
In VSCode go to Preferences à Settings.
To apply the standards to ALL Workspaces, click on User.
To apply the standards to only the current Workspace, click on
Workspace.
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Apply Standards (cont’d)
Then click on PHP CodeSniffer under
Extensions.
Find the “Standard” section and click
“Edit in settings.json”.
Add the following code…
"phpcs.standard": "WordPress"
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Apply Standards (cont’d)
If you are getting an error in VS Code for “phpcs”, then set
the Executable Path in the Settings for PHP CodeSniffer.
Below is an example path for Mac users. A Windows path will
include the drive number like C:\Users\...
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Check PHP Files
Check one of your PHP files to see if it gives you any errors
or warnings like this…
Now you can keep your code clean and up to the standards!
