get_plugin_data( string $plugin_file, bool $markup = true, bool $translate = true ): array

Parses the plugin contents to retrieve plugin’s metadata.

Description

All plugin headers must be on their own line. Plugin description must not have any newlines, otherwise only parts of the description will be displayed.
The below is formatted for printing.

/*
Plugin Name: Name of the plugin.
Plugin URI: The home page of the plugin.
Description: Plugin description.
Author: Plugin author's name.
Author URI: Link to the author's website.
Version: Plugin version.
Text Domain: Optional. Unique identifier, should be same as the one used in
     load_plugin_textdomain().
Domain Path: Optional. Only useful if the translations are located in a
     folder above the plugin's base path. For example, if .mo files are
     located in the locale folder then Domain Path will be "/locale/" and
     must have the first slash. Defaults to the base folder the plugin is
     located in.
Network: Optional. Specify "Network: true" to require that a plugin is activated
     across all sites in an installation. This will prevent a plugin from being
     activated on a single site when Multisite is enabled.
Requires at least: Optional. Specify the minimum required WordPress version.
Requires PHP: Optional. Specify the minimum required PHP version.
* / # Remove the space to close comment.

The first 8 KB of the file will be pulled in and if the plugin data is not within that first 8 KB, then the plugin author should correct their plugin and move the plugin data headers to the top.

The plugin file is assumed to have permissions to allow for scripts to read the file. This is not checked however and the file is only opened for reading.

Parameters

$plugin_filestringrequired
Absolute path to the main plugin file.
$markupbooloptional
If the returned data should have HTML markup applied.

Default:true

$translatebooloptional
If the returned data should be translated.

Default:true

Return

array Plugin data. Values will be empty if not supplied by the plugin.
  • Name string
    Name of the plugin. Should be unique.
  • PluginURI string
    Plugin URI.
  • Version string
    Plugin version.
  • Description string
    Plugin description.
  • Author string
    Plugin author’s name.
  • AuthorURI string
    Plugin author’s website address (if set).
  • TextDomain string
    Plugin textdomain.
  • DomainPath string
    Plugin’s relative directory path to .mo files.
  • Network bool
    Whether the plugin can only be activated network-wide.
  • RequiresWP string
    Minimum required version of WordPress.
  • RequiresPHP string
    Minimum required version of PHP.
  • UpdateURI string
    ID of the plugin for update purposes, should be a URI.
  • Title string
    Title of the plugin and link to the plugin’s site (if set).
  • AuthorName string
    Plugin author’s name.

Source

function get_plugin_data( $plugin_file, $markup = true, $translate = true ) {

	$default_headers = array(
		'Name'        => 'Plugin Name',
		'PluginURI'   => 'Plugin URI',
		'Version'     => 'Version',
		'Description' => 'Description',
		'Author'      => 'Author',
		'AuthorURI'   => 'Author URI',
		'TextDomain'  => 'Text Domain',
		'DomainPath'  => 'Domain Path',
		'Network'     => 'Network',
		'RequiresWP'  => 'Requires at least',
		'RequiresPHP' => 'Requires PHP',
		'UpdateURI'   => 'Update URI',
		// Site Wide Only is deprecated in favor of Network.
		'_sitewide'   => 'Site Wide Only',
	);

	$plugin_data = get_file_data( $plugin_file, $default_headers, 'plugin' );

	// Site Wide Only is the old header for Network.
	if ( ! $plugin_data['Network'] && $plugin_data['_sitewide'] ) {
		/* translators: 1: Site Wide Only: true, 2: Network: true */
		_deprecated_argument( __FUNCTION__, '3.0.0', sprintf( __( 'The %1$s plugin header is deprecated. Use %2$s instead.' ), '<code>Site Wide Only: true</code>', '<code>Network: true</code>' ) );
		$plugin_data['Network'] = $plugin_data['_sitewide'];
	}
	$plugin_data['Network'] = ( 'true' === strtolower( $plugin_data['Network'] ) );
	unset( $plugin_data['_sitewide'] );

	// If no text domain is defined fall back to the plugin slug.
	if ( ! $plugin_data['TextDomain'] ) {
		$plugin_slug = dirname( plugin_basename( $plugin_file ) );
		if ( '.' !== $plugin_slug && ! str_contains( $plugin_slug, '/' ) ) {
			$plugin_data['TextDomain'] = $plugin_slug;
		}
	}

	if ( $markup || $translate ) {
		$plugin_data = _get_plugin_data_markup_translate( $plugin_file, $plugin_data, $markup, $translate );
	} else {
		$plugin_data['Title']      = $plugin_data['Name'];
		$plugin_data['AuthorName'] = $plugin_data['Author'];
	}

	return $plugin_data;
}

Changelog

VersionDescription
5.8.0Added support for Update URI header.
5.3.0Added support for Requires at least and Requires PHP headers.
1.5.0Introduced.

User Contributed Notes

  1. Skip to note 5 content

    If $markup or $translate are set to true (as they are by default), the function indirectly calls wptexturize, potentially breaking other plugins if this happens before the init hook.

  2. Skip to note 6 content

    Warning: get_plugin_data(..) is NOT available by default (not even in the admin). The pattern proposed by Aamer Shahzad with if ( ! function_exists( 'get_plugin_data' ) ) { require_once ... } seems to be mandatory before using get_plugin_data(..) (although not documented).

    Otherwise, the whole site may crash with a fatal PHP error “call to undefined function”.

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