How to Enable and Disable WordPress Debugging

When troubleshooting issues or developing a WordPress site, it’s often necessary to turn on debugging to see PHP errors and warnings. WordPress provides built-in constants for this: WP_DEBUG, WP_DEBUG_LOG, and WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY.

Here’s how to enable or disable them:

1. Open your wp-config.php file

You’ll find wp-config.php in the root directory of your WordPress installation (where folders like wp-content and wp-admin are located).

2. Enable WordPress Debugging

Add or update the following lines above this line:

/* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */

// Enable WP Debugging
define('WP_DEBUG', true);

// Log errors to a file
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);

// Display errors on the page
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', true);

// Optional: Force errors to be shown even if PHP settings hide them
@ini_set('display_errors', 1);

What this does:

• WP_DEBUG enables WordPress to show PHP errors, notices, and warnings.

• WP_DEBUG_LOG saves these errors to a file called debug.log inside the wp-content folder.

• WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY controls whether errors are shown on the page.

3. Disable WordPress Debugging

When your site is live, you should always turn debugging off to avoid exposing sensitive information.

Update the lines like this:

// Disable WP Debugging
define('WP_DEBUG', false);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', false);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);

Or simply comment them out if you don’t need them at all.

4. Important Notes

• If WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY is set to false, errors won’t appear on screen, but if WP_DEBUG_LOG is true, they will still be saved to wp-content/debug.log.

• Always make a backup of your wp-config.php file before making changes.

• You may need to manually create or delete the debug.log file if needed.

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