WordPress debugging

Updated: 28 March 2024

To enable debugging generally, add these lines to file wp-config.php just before /* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */

// Turn debugging on
define('WP_DEBUG', true);

// Tell WordPress to log everything to /wp-content/debug.log
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);

// Display errors and warnings on the frontend
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', true );
@ini_set( 'display_errors', 1 );

Write any message to /wp-content/debug.log

error_log('logging message here...');

Write a PHP variable to the error log with print_r

error_log(print_r($var, true));

Write a PHP variable to the error log with var_dump

function error_log_var_dump( $var ){
    ob_start();
    var_dump( $var );
    $cont = ob_get_contents();
    ob_end_clean();
    error_log( $cont );
}