get_plugins() WordPress Function

The get_plugins() function is used to retrieve an array of all the plugins currently installed on a WordPress site. This function can be useful for checking if a specific plugin is installed, or for retrieving a list of all the plugins installed on a site.

get_plugins( string $plugin_folder = '' ) #

Checks the plugins directory and retrieve all plugin files with plugin data.


Description

WordPress only supports plugin files in the base plugins directory (wp-content/plugins) and in one directory above the plugins directory (wp-content/plugins/my-plugin). The file it looks for has the plugin data and must be found in those two locations. It is recommended to keep your plugin files in their own directories.

The file with the plugin data is the file that will be included and therefore needs to have the main execution for the plugin. This does not mean everything must be contained in the file and it is recommended that the file be split for maintainability. Keep everything in one file for extreme optimization purposes.


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Parameters

$plugin_folder

(string)(Optional) Relative path to single plugin folder.

Default value: ''


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Return

(array[]) Array of arrays of plugin data, keyed by plugin file name. See get_plugin_data().


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More Information

If you have `PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function get_plugins()` then you must include the file ‘wp-admin/includes/plugin.php‘ like in example.

Results are cached on the first run of the function, therefore it is recommended to call the function at least after the ‘after_setup_theme‘ action so that plugins and themes have the ability to filter the results.


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Source

File: wp-admin/includes/plugin.php

function get_plugins( $plugin_folder = '' ) {

	$cache_plugins = wp_cache_get( 'plugins', 'plugins' );
	if ( ! $cache_plugins ) {
		$cache_plugins = array();
	}

	if ( isset( $cache_plugins[ $plugin_folder ] ) ) {
		return $cache_plugins[ $plugin_folder ];
	}

	$wp_plugins  = array();
	$plugin_root = WP_PLUGIN_DIR;
	if ( ! empty( $plugin_folder ) ) {
		$plugin_root .= $plugin_folder;
	}

	// Files in wp-content/plugins directory.
	$plugins_dir  = @opendir( $plugin_root );
	$plugin_files = array();

	if ( $plugins_dir ) {
		while ( ( $file = readdir( $plugins_dir ) ) !== false ) {
			if ( '.' === substr( $file, 0, 1 ) ) {
				continue;
			}

			if ( is_dir( $plugin_root . '/' . $file ) ) {
				$plugins_subdir = @opendir( $plugin_root . '/' . $file );

				if ( $plugins_subdir ) {
					while ( ( $subfile = readdir( $plugins_subdir ) ) !== false ) {
						if ( '.' === substr( $subfile, 0, 1 ) ) {
							continue;
						}

						if ( '.php' === substr( $subfile, -4 ) ) {
							$plugin_files[] = "$file/$subfile";
						}
					}

					closedir( $plugins_subdir );
				}
			} else {
				if ( '.php' === substr( $file, -4 ) ) {
					$plugin_files[] = $file;
				}
			}
		}

		closedir( $plugins_dir );
	}

	if ( empty( $plugin_files ) ) {
		return $wp_plugins;
	}

	foreach ( $plugin_files as $plugin_file ) {
		if ( ! is_readable( "$plugin_root/$plugin_file" ) ) {
			continue;
		}

		// Do not apply markup/translate as it will be cached.
		$plugin_data = get_plugin_data( "$plugin_root/$plugin_file", false, false );

		if ( empty( $plugin_data['Name'] ) ) {
			continue;
		}

		$wp_plugins[ plugin_basename( $plugin_file ) ] = $plugin_data;
	}

	uasort( $wp_plugins, '_sort_uname_callback' );

	$cache_plugins[ $plugin_folder ] = $wp_plugins;
	wp_cache_set( 'plugins', $cache_plugins, 'plugins' );

	return $wp_plugins;
}


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Changelog

Changelog
VersionDescription
1.5.0Introduced.

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