Using WordPress ‘is_active_sidebar()’ PHP function

The is_active_sidebar() WordPress PHP function determines whether a sidebar contains widgets.

Usage

is_active_sidebar( $index );

Example:

if ( is_active_sidebar( 'left-sidebar' ) ) {
    // Display the left-sidebar contents
}

Parameters

$index (string|int) – Required. Sidebar name, id, or number to check.

More information

See WordPress Developer Resources: is_active_sidebar()

Examples

This example will display the sidebar’s content only if it has active widgets.

if ( is_active_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ) ) {
    dynamic_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' );
}

Display a message if the sidebar is empty

This example will display a message if the sidebar doesn’t contain any widgets.

if ( is_active_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ) ) {
    dynamic_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' );
} else {
    echo '**No widgets found.**';
}

Display different sidebars based on their activity

This example will display the first active sidebar among ‘left-sidebar’ and ‘right-sidebar’.

if ( is_active_sidebar( 'left-sidebar' ) ) {
    dynamic_sidebar( 'left-sidebar' );
} elseif ( is_active_sidebar( 'right-sidebar' ) ) {
    dynamic_sidebar( 'right-sidebar' );
}

Display different content based on sidebar activity

This example will display different content depending on whether the ‘footer-sidebar’ is active or not.

if ( is_active_sidebar( 'footer-sidebar' ) ) {
    dynamic_sidebar( 'footer-sidebar' );
} else {
    echo '**Custom default footer content.**';
}

Display multiple active sidebars

This example will display all active sidebars with the IDs ‘sidebar-1’, ‘sidebar-2’, and ‘sidebar-3’.

for ($i = 1; $i <= 3; $i++) {
    if ( is_active_sidebar( "sidebar-$i" ) ) {
        dynamic_sidebar( "sidebar-$i" );
    }
}