Hide Broken Shortcodes
Prevent broken shortcodes from appearing in posts and pages.
The facts
- Rating
- 4.5★ from 10
- Active installs
- 400+
- Price
- Free
- Last updated
- 6 May 2026
- Added
- Jan 2010
- Requires WP
- 2.5
- Tested up to
- WP 6.8.8
- Downloads
- 27,212
Our analysis
AI-assistedHide Broken Shortcodes is a WordPress plugin that prevents unhandled shortcodes from displaying on your site. It ensures that if a shortcode is not processed due to a missing plugin or a typo, it does not reveal code-like text to visitors. For self-closing shortcodes, the shortcode tag and its attributes are hidden, while enclosing shortcodes display the enclosed text without showing the shortcode tags.
This plugin is suitable for users who want to maintain a clean and professional appearance on their WordPress sites by hiding any broken shortcodes that could confuse or mislead visitors.
Best for: This plugin is best for WordPress site owners who use shortcodes and want to avoid displaying broken shortcode content.
What it does well
- ✓Hides unhandled shortcodes to prevent display of code-like text
- ✓Self-closing shortcodes are completely hidden
- ✓Enclosing shortcodes show only the enclosed text
- ✓Includes customization options through filters
- ✓Free to use from the WordPress.org directory
Where it falls short
- •Limited information on additional features or customisation options
Verdict
Hide Broken Shortcodes provides a straightforward solution for managing shortcode visibility on your site, making it a useful tool for maintaining content quality.
From the developer
Scott Reilly's own description of Hide Broken Shortcodes, lightly tidied.
By default in WordPress, if the plugin that provides the functionality to handle any given shortcode is disabled, or if a shortcode is improperly defined in the content (such as with a typo), then the shortcode in question will appear on the site in its entirety, unprocessed by WordPress. At best this reveals unsightly code-like text to visitors and at worst can potentially expose information not intended to be seen by visitors.
This plugin prevents unhandled shortcodes from appearing in the content of a post or page. If the shortcode is of the self-closing variety, then the shortcode tag and its attributes are not displayed and nothing is shown in their place. If the shortcode is of the enclosing variety (an opening and closing tag bookend some text or markup), then the text that is being enclosed will be shown, but the shortcode tag and attributes that surround the text will not be displayed.
See the Filters section for more customization tips.
Links: Plugin Homepage | Plugin Directory Page | GitHub | Author Homepage
Developer Documentation
Developer documentation can be found in DEVELOPER-DOCS.md. That documentation covers the hooks provided by the plugin.
As an overview, these are the hooks provided by the plugin:
hide_broken_shortcode: Customizes what, if anything, gets displayed when a broken shortcode is encountered.hide_broken_shortcodes_filters: Customizes what filters to hook to find text with potential broken shortcodes.
Tagged as
industry
Knowledge Base & Documentation
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