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Function Reference/wp enqueue script

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Description

A safe way of adding javascripts to a WordPress generated page. Basically, include the script if it hasn't already been included, and load the one that WordPress ships.

Usage

wp_enqueue_script( 
     $handle
    ,$src
    ,$deps
    ,$ver
    ,$in_footer 
);

Use the wp_enqueue_scripts action to call this function, or admin_enqueue_scripts to call it on the admin side.

Parameters

$handle
(string) (required) Name of the script. Lowercase string.
Default: None
$src
(string) (optional) URL to the script. Example: "http://example.com/wp-includes/js/scriptaculous/scriptaculous.js". This parameter is only required when WordPress does not already know about this script. You should never hardcode URLs to local scripts, use Function Reference/plugins_url (for Plugins) and Function Reference/get_template_directory_uri (for Themes) to get a proper URL.
Default: false
$deps
(array) (optional) Array of handles of any script that this script depends on; scripts that must be loaded before this script. false if there are no dependencies. This parameter is only required when WordPress does not already know about this script.
Default: array()
$ver
(string) (optional) String specifying the script version number, if it has one, which is concatenated to the end of the path as a query string. Defaults to false. If no version is specified or set to false then wordpress automatically adds a version number equal to the current version of wordpress you are running. This parameter is used to ensure that the correct version is sent to the client regardless of caching, and so should be included if a version number is available and makes sense for the script. If you do not want any version number, you must pass in NULL to this parameter. Passing in NULL is not recommended unless you know what you are doing.
Default: false
$in_footer
(boolean) (optional) Normally scripts are placed in the <head> section. If this parameter is true the script is placed at the bottom of the <body>. This requires the theme to have the wp_footer() hook in the appropriate place. Note that you have to enqueue your script before wp_head is run, even if it will be placed in the footer. (New in WordPress 2.8)
Default: false

Return Values

(void) 
This function does not return a value.

Examples

Note: This function will not work if it is called from a wp_head or wp_print_scripts actions, as the files need to be enqueued before those actions are run. See the Usage section for the correct hooks to use.


Load a default WordPress script from a non-default location

Please Note: It is not recommended that a theme force a 3rd party served JavaScript or CSS file by default, Doing so opens the users up to reliance upon a external host which is out of their control. A much better alternative is to use/recomend a Plugin such as Plugin: Use Google Libraries which automatically uses the Google-CDN served jQuery of the same version that WordPress uses this ultimately reduces breakage caused by Themes/Plugins which hardcode the file to use.

Suppose you want to use the CDN copy of jQuery instead of WordPress’s, add this code to your functions.php file.

<?php
function my_scripts_method() {
    wp_deregister_script( 'jquery' );
    wp_register_script( 'jquery', 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6/jquery.min.js');
    wp_enqueue_script( 'jquery' );
}    
 
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_scripts_method');
?>

by using the wp_enqueue_scripts hook (instead of the init hook which many articles reference), we avoid registering the alternate jQuery on admin pages, which will cause post editing (amongst other things) to break after upgrades often.

Load the scriptaculous script

<?php
function my_scripts_method() {
    wp_enqueue_script('scriptaculous');            
}    
 
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_scripts_method'); // For use on the Front end (ie. Theme)
?>

The above example only loads the Scriptaculous library on the front end, If it was needed within the admin, you could use the admin_enqueue_scripts action instead, however this enqueues it on ALL admin pages, which often leads to plugin/core conflicts, ultimately breaking the WordPress admin experience. Instead, You should only load it on the individual pages you need it, See the Load scripts only on Plugin pages section for an example of that.

Load script depends on scriptaculous

Add and load a new script that depends on scriptaculous (this will also cause it to load scriptaculous into the page as well):

<?php
function my_scripts_method() {
   wp_enqueue_script('newscript',
     /* WP_PLUGIN_URL . '/someplugin/js/newscript.js', // old way, not SSL compatible */
     plugins_url('/js/newscript.js', __FILE__), // where the this file is in /someplugin/
     array('scriptaculous'),
     '1.0' );
}    
 
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_scripts_method');
?>

Load a script from your theme which depends upon a WordPress Script

Often JavaScript files included in Themes require another JavaScript file to be loaded before the themes JavaScript file, WordPress offers an API for marking Dependencies when registering a script, For Example, the below theme requires jQuery for the custom_script JavaScript file:

<?php
function my_scripts_method() {
   // register your script location, dependencies and version
   wp_register_script('custom_script',
       get_template_directory_uri() . '/js/custom_script.js',
       array('jquery'),
       '1.0' );
   // enqueue the script
   wp_enqueue_script('custom_script');
}
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_scripts_method');
?>

Load scripts only on plugin pages

<?php
    add_action( 'admin_init', 'my_plugin_admin_init' );
    add_action( 'admin_menu', 'my_plugin_admin_menu' );

    function my_plugin_admin_init() {
        /* Register our script. */
        wp_register_script( 'my_plugin_script', plugins_url('/script.js', __FILE__) );
    }

    function my_plugin_admin_menu() {
        /* Register our plugin page */
        $page = add_submenu_page( 'edit.php', // The parent page of this menu
                                  __( 'My Plugin', 'myPlugin' ), // The Menu Title
                                  __( 'My Plugin', 'myPlugin' ), // The Page title
				  'manage_options', // The capability required for access to this item
				  'my_plugin-options', // the slug to use for the page in the URL
                                  'my_plugin_manage_menu' // The function to call to render the page
                               );

        /* Using registered $page handle to hook script load */
        add_action('admin_print_styles-' . $page, 'my_plugin_admin_styles');
    }

    function my_plugin_admin_styles() {
        /*
         * It will be called only on your plugin admin page, enqueue our script here
         */
        wp_enqueue_script( 'my_plugin_script' );
    }

    function my_plugin_manage_menu() {
        /* Output our admin page */
    }
?>

jQuery noConflict wrappers

Note: The jQuery library included with WordPress loads in "no conflict" mode. This is to prevent compatibility problems with other javascript libraries that WordPress can load.

In "no-confict" mode, the $ shortcut is not available and the longer jQuery is used. For example:

$(document).ready(function(){
     $(#somefunction) ...
});

Becomes:

jQuery(document).ready(function(){
    jQuery(#somefunction) ...
});

In order to use the default jQuery shortcut of $, you can use the following wrapper around your code:

jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
    // $() will work as an alias for jQuery() inside of this function
});

That wrapper will cause your code to be executed when the page finishes loading, and the $ will work for calling jQuery. If, for some reason, you want your code to execute immediately (instead of waiting for the DOM ready event), then you can use this wrapper method instead:

(function($) {
    // $() will work as an alias for jQuery() inside of this function
})(jQuery);

Default scripts included with WordPress

Script Name Handle
Scriptaculous Root scriptaculous-root
Scriptaculous Builder scriptaculous-builder
Scriptaculous Drag & Drop scriptaculous-dragdrop
Scriptaculous Effects scriptaculous-effects
Scriptaculous Slider scriptaculous-slider
Scriptaculous Sound scriptaculous-sound
Scriptaculous Controls scriptaculous-controls
Scriptaculous scriptaculous
Image Cropper Image cropper (not used in core, see jcrop)
Jcrop Image copper
SWFObject swfobject
SWFUpload swfupload
SWFUpload Degrade swfupload-degrade
SWFUpload Queue swfupload-queue
SWFUpload Handlers swfupload-handlers
jQuery jquery
jQuery Form jquery-form
jQuery Color jquery-color
jQuery UI Core jquery-ui-core (Att.: This is not the whole core incl. all core plugins. Just the base core.)
jQuery UI Accordion jquery-ui-accordion
jQuery UI Tabs jquery-ui-tabs
jQuery UI Sortable jquery-ui-sortable
jQuery UI Draggable jquery-ui-draggable
jQuery UI Droppable jquery-ui-droppable
jQuery UI Selectable jquery-ui-selectable
jQuery UI Datepicker jquery-ui-datepicker
jQuery UI Resizable jquery-ui-resizable
jQuery UI Dialog jquery-ui-dialog
jQuery Schedule schedule
jQuery Suggest suggest
ThickBox thickbox
jQuery Hotkeys jquery-hotkeys
Simple AJAX Code-Kit sack
QuickTags quicktags
Farbtastic (color picker) farbtastic
ColorPicker (deprecated) colorpicker
Tiny MCE tiny_mce
Prototype Framework prototype
Autosave autosave
WordPress AJAX Response wp-ajax-response
List Manipulation wp-lists
WP Common common
WP Editor editor
WP Editor Functions editor-functions
AJAX Cat ajaxcat
Admin Categories admin-categories
Admin Tags admin-tags
Admin custom fields admin-custom-fields
Password Strength Meter password-strength-meter
Admin Comments admin-comments
Admin Users admin-users
Admin Forms admin-forms
XFN xfn
Upload upload
PostBox postbox
Slug slug
Post post
Page page
Link link
Comment comment
Threaded Comments comment-repy
Admin Gallery admin-gallery
Media Upload media-upload
Admin widgets admin-widgets
Word Count word-count
Theme Preview theme-preview
JSON for JS json2

For a detailed list of names that can be used as $handle, see Notes on wp_register_script();.

Notes

  • See WP_Scripts::add_data(), WP_Scripts::enqueue()
  • Uses global: (unknown type) $wp_scripts
  • jQuery UI Effects is NOT included with the jquery-ui-core
  • If called mid-page, this will enqueue the script into the footer

Change Log

Since: 2.6 (BackPress version: r16)

Source File

wp_enqueue_script() is located in wp-includes/functions.wp-scripts.php.

Resources

Related

wp_register_script(), wp_deregister_script(), wp_enqueue_script(), wp_dequeue_script(), (action) admin_enqueue_scripts

See also index of Function Reference and index of Template Tags.
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