How to Disable Warnings and Show Errors in the WordPress wp-config file

Introduction

If you’re a WordPress developer or website owner, you may encounter situations where you need to troubleshoot errors and warnings in your code. By default, WordPress hides PHP error messages and warnings from being displayed on your website, which makes it difficult to identify and fix potential issues. Thankfully, you can easily enable error reporting by making changes in the wp-config file. In this tutorial, we will walk you through the process of disabling warnings and showing errors in the WordPress wp-config file, empowering you to effectively debug your website.

Disabling Warnings and Showing Errors in wp-config

To disable warnings and display errors, you need to make some changes to the wp-config.php file located in the root directory of your WordPress installation. Follow the steps below:

Step 1: Access the wp-config File

Connect to your website using FTP or a file manager provided by your hosting provider. Navigate to the root directory of your WordPress site and locate the wp-config.php file.

Step 2: Open the wp-config file for editing

Right-click on the wp-config.php file and choose the “Edit” option. You can use any code editor, such as Notepad++ or Sublime Text, to open the file.

Step 3: Add the Error Reporting Code

After opening the wp-config.php file, add the following code just before the line that says “That’s all, stop editing! Happy publishing.”

ini_set('display_errors', 1);
ini_set('display_startup_errors', 1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', true);

This code snippet will enable error reporting, displaying all types of errors and warnings on your website.

Step 4: Save and Upload the File

Save the changes made to the wp-config.php file and upload it back to your server.

Step 5: Check for Errors and Warnings

Refresh your website and observe if any errors or warnings are displayed. This can help you identify the root cause of issues and make necessary changes to resolve them.

That’s it! You have successfully disabled warnings and enabled error reporting in WordPress. Remember to remove or comment out the code snippet once you have finished debugging your website to prevent sensitive error information from being visible to your visitors.

Conclusion

Enabling error reporting and disabling warnings in WordPress is essential for effective debugging and troubleshooting. By modifying the wp-config.php file, you can easily display errors and track down issues in your code. Always remember to turn off error reporting once you have resolved the problems to ensure the security and smooth functioning of your WordPress website.