How to Quickly Identify and Fix PHP Errors in WordPress

PHP errors if left unfixed, they can not only slow down a website, they can even cause plugins to not work properly, affect SEO rankings, or even cause a website to go down. The longer they go unfixed, the more business damage they may cause. Therefore, fixing PHP errors quickly and effectively is a skill that every webmaster needs to master.

In this guide, we're going to go over how to recognize and fix PHP errors in WordPress to make sure your site is back up and running.

What are PHP errors?

PHP Errors are errors that occur when a WordPress website encounters problems in its PHP code.PHP is the core scripting language behind WordPress, and the entire website's functionality, and content presentation is based on it.PHP Errors can originate from a variety of reasons, including plugin incompatibility, theme errors, server configuration issues, and more.

The potential impact of PHP errors:

1. Slow down the website: Reduces the user experience and leads to loss of visitors.
2. Website crash: Serious errors may render the entire site inaccessible.
3. Impact on SEO Ranking: Slow loading or downtime of the site will make search engines downgrade the site.
4. Restricted page access: Some pages may not open due to errors.
5. Plugin does not work properly: Plugins may malfunction due to incompatibility with PHP versions or other plugins.
6. Excessive server resource consumption: Too many errors can take up a lot of server resources and lead to performance degradation.
7. safety risk: Unfixed PHP errors may expose website security vulnerabilities and increase the risk of attack.

Common PHP Error Types

Knowing the common PHP error types will help to identify and fix problems faster. Below are the types of PHP errors that are commonly encountered in WordPress websites:

1. Fatal Error: Usually means that a serious error has occurred within the server that prevents the site from continuing to function.
2. Parse Error: Often caused by misspelled or syntactically incorrect code, the parser is unable to read the code.
3. Notice and Warning: These errors occur when certain elements of the code are undefined or inaccessible.
4. Deprecated Error: Indicates that your code is using a feature that is no longer supported and needs to be updated.
5. Undefined Index Error: Indicates that the site is trying to retrieve data from a non-existent or inaccessible index.
6. Division by Zero Error (DZE): Attempts to perform operations that cannot be computed, such as dividing by zero.
7. Type Error: Data type incompatibility may be caused by mismatched functions or variables.

How to Recognize PHP Errors

Not all PHP errors are displayed on the front end of the site. Some errors will simply show up as a white screen, while others will display a detailed error message. Before troubleshooting, it is recommended to enable error reporting or use a plugin to detect problems.

1. Enable PHP error reporting

To display PHP errors, you can access WordPress via an FTP client (e.g. FileZilla) to the wp-config.php file and modify the debug mode settings.

The steps are as follows::

1. Connect to your host using the FTP tool and find the wp-config.php file (usually located in the public_html (in the catalog).

2. Open the file and find the following line of code:

define('WP_DEBUG', false).
define('WP_DEBUG', false).
define('WP_DEBUG', false).

3. commander-in-chief (military) false modify to true, turn on error reporting:

define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG', true);

4. If you need to display a more detailed error message, you can add the following code:

define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', true);

By following these steps, you can see the specific information about the PHP error on the front-end of your website.

2. Create a WordPress error log

In order to record and analyze more details about the error, it is recommended to generate a WordPress error log.

1. Open it again. wp-config.php file, add the following code to the file:

define('WP_DEBUG', true); define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true); define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false); @ini_set('display_errors', 0).
define('WP_DEBUG', true); define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true); define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false); @ini_set('display_errors', 0).
define('WP_DEBUG', true); define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true); define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false); @ini_set('display_errors', 0).

2. Save the file and WordPress will generate a debug.log file, which can be found in the wp-content Find it in the catalog.

The log file allows you to record all PHP errors that occur and analyze them in detail.

3. Utilization Query Monitor plug-in (software component)

If you don't want to edit the code manually, you can use the Query Monitor Plugin. This plugin monitors the site in the background and alerts you when an error occurs.

The steps are as follows::

1. Install and activate the Query Monitor plug-in.

2. Once the plugin is activated, you can find it in the toolbar of your WordPress dashboard.
3. Clicking on the Query Monitor button in the toolbar at the top of the WordPress backend will display a dropdown menu. Select "Logs" option to see all PHP errors and performance issues.

4. Using the WordPress Site Health Tool

WordPress has a built-in site health tool to help diagnose problems with your website. This can be done by navigating to the Tools > Site Health, to see the health of the site. This tool can help you find plugin conflicts, PHP errors, and other issues and provide suggestions.

How to Fix PHP Errors: 5 Common Methods

Recognizing a PHP error is just the first step, and we'll cover a few common fixes next.

1. Check for PHP version compatibility

PHP version incompatibility is a common cause of WordPress errors. It is recommended that you use the WordPress Site Health tool to see what version of PHP you are currently running and compare it to the official WordPress supported PHP version.

Supported PHP versions::

• WordPress 5.9 and 6.0: Supports PHP 5.6 to PHP 8.1.
• WordPress 6.1 and 6.2: Supports PHP 5.6 to PHP 8.2.

If you have an older or incompatible version of PHP, you can contact your hosting provider to update your PHP version.

2. Disable plug-ins or themes

Plugin conflicts are another major cause of PHP errors in WordPress. To determine if a plugin or theme is causing the problem, try disabling them temporarily.

The steps are as follows::

1. Open with FTP utility wp-content directory, which will plugins Temporary renaming of folders.
2. Refresh the site and see if it returns to normal. If the problem is solved, it means that a plugin is causing the problem. At this point, you can enable plugins one by one to find the conflicting plugin.
3. In the wordpress dashboard, find the installed plugins to disable and enable them one by one to find out the problematic plugins.

Similarly, you can check if a theme is throwing PHP errors by switching to the default theme.

3. Check PHP memory limits

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');

If the problem persists, try increasing the memory further.

4. Checking for code errors

Parsing errors or syntax errors are usually caused by code spelling or grammatical problems. Checkerror logDocuments or Query Monitor The plugin provides tips to find the problematic line of code and fix it.

5. Restoring website backups

If all attempts fail to resolve the issue, consider restoring the site to a healthy backup version.Use plug-ins such as UpdraftPlus Or contact your hosting provider to restore the backup.

summarize

PHP errors are a common problem in running WordPress websites and can lead to performance degradation, functionality failure, and even affect SEO rankings. By enabling PHP error reporting, using debugging tools, and reviewing error logs, webmasters can quickly locate and fix problems. Common fixes include updating PHP versions, disabling conflicting plugins or themes, adjusting PHP memory limits, and checking for code syntax issues. Resolving PHP errors quickly and effectively not only improves website performance, but also improves user experience and ensures a stable website.