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Enabling WP_Debug In WordPress

WP_Debug is a constant that when enabled will display any PHP errors on the front-end of your site, this is the most useful tool when troubleshooting your site for errors. If disabled and your site has an error you may see a blank screen or a message that simply reads “There was a critical error on your website” neither of which are useful in troubleshooting the issue.

Important: This is an advanced procedure so please proceed with caution, if you don’t know what you are doing, please contact your webhost for assistance. Additionally, you should only enable WP_Debug temporarily for debugging. Keeping it enabled always could pose a security risk.

How To Enable WP_Debug in WordPress

Below are the steps required to enable WP_Debug for your WordPress installation.

  1. Access your website’s root folder via FTP or SFTP
  2. Locate the wp-config.php file
  3. Open this file in a text editor (I prefer sublime text)
  4. Search for “WP_Debug” and if you find it set the value to true if currently set to false
  5. If you didn’t locate “WP_Debug” scroll down near the bottom of the file and add the following code right before the line that says “# That’s It. Pencils down”
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );

When it’s done and saved it should look like this:

wp-debug

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