WP Debug is a feature in WordPress that allows you to identify and troubleshoot errors or issues on your website by displaying error messages and warnings. It helps developers and website administrators to diagnose and fix issues related to plugins, themes, code snippets, and other parts of the website.
When WP Debug is enabled, error messages and warnings are displayed on the website and in the server logs. By default, WP Debug is turned off in WordPress to avoid showing error messages to website visitors.
To enable WP Debug, you can add the following line of code to the wp-config.php file in the root directory of your WordPress site:
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );Once you have added this code, WordPress will display error messages and warnings on your website. You can also add additional lines of code to further customize and configure WP Debug, such as:
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
The WP_DEBUG_LOG line will save the error messages and warnings to a debug.log file in the wp-content directory, while the WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY line will prevent error messages from being displayed on your website.
WP Debug is a powerful tool for developers and website administrators to identify and fix issues on their WordPress site. However, it is important to remember to turn off WP Debug once you have finished troubleshooting, as leaving it enabled can slow down your website and expose error messages to visitors.
Where to find WP debug log file
If you have enabled the WP_DEBUG_LOG constant in your WordPress configuration file, WordPress will save the error messages and warnings to a debug.log file in the wp-content directory. To access this log file, follow these steps:
- Login to your WordPress site
- Using an FTP client or file manager, navigate to the root directory of your WordPress site
- Navigate to the wp-content directory
- Look for a file called debug.log in the wp-content directory. If the file does not exist, it means that no errors or warnings have been logged.
You can view the debug.log file by downloading it to your computer and opening it with a text editor like Notepad or Sublime Text. The file will contain a list of error messages and warnings, along with the time and date they were logged.
It’s important to remember that leaving WP_DEBUG_LOG constant enabled can slow down your website and consume a lot of disk space over time. Therefore, once you have finished troubleshooting your website, it’s recommended to turn off the WP_DEBUG_LOG constant and delete the debug.log file to ensure that your website is running smoothly.
