Using WordPress ‘pre_user_description’ PHP filter

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The ‘pre_user_description’ filter is used to modify a user’s description before the user is created or updated in a WordPress website. This allows you to customize the description as needed, providing flexibility for your WordPress site.

Usage

To use this filter, add a custom function to your theme’s functions.php file or a plugin, and then hook it to the ‘pre_user_description’ filter. Here’s a code example:

function my_custom_pre_user_description( $description ) {
    // Your code to modify the description
    return $description;
}
add_filter( 'pre_user_description', 'my_custom_pre_user_description' );

Parameters

  • $description (string): The user’s description that will be filtered.

Examples

Limit Description Length

If you want to limit the description length to a certain number of characters:

function limit_user_description_length( $description ) {
    $max_length = 200;
    return substr( $description, 0, $max_length );
}
add_filter( 'pre_user_description', 'limit_user_description_length' );

In this example, the user description will be truncated to a maximum of 200 characters.

Add a Prefix to User Description

To add a prefix to the user description, use the following code:

function add_prefix_user_description( $description ) {
    $prefix = "About Me: ";
    return $prefix . $description;
}
add_filter( 'pre_user_description', 'add_prefix_user_description' );

This code will add the “About Me: ” prefix to the user description.

Remove HTML Tags from Description

If you want to remove HTML tags from the user description:

function remove_html_tags_user_description( $description ) {
    return strip_tags( $description );
}
add_filter( 'pre_user_description', 'remove_html_tags_user_description' );

This code will strip all HTML tags from the user description.

To convert plain URLs in the description into clickable links:

function convert_urls_to_links_user_description( $description ) {
    return make_clickable( $description );
}
add_filter( 'pre_user_description', 'convert_urls_to_links_user_description' );

This code will convert any plain URLs in the user description to clickable links.

Replace Specific Words

If you want to replace specific words in the user description:

function replace_words_user_description( $description ) {
    $search = array( 'bad_word1', 'bad_word2' );
    $replace = array( 'good_word1', 'good_word2' );
    return str_replace( $search, $replace, $description );
}
add_filter( 'pre_user_description', 'replace_words_user_description' );

In this example, the function replaces “bad_word1” with “good_word1” and “bad_word2” with “good_word2” in the user description.