get_plugin_data() │ WP 1.5.0

Parses the plugin contents to retrieve plugin's metadata.

All plugin headers must be on their own line. Plugin description must not have any newlines, otherwise only parts of the description will be displayed. The below is formatted for printing.

/*
Plugin Name: Name of the plugin.
Plugin URI: The home page of the plugin.
Description: Plugin description.
Author: Plugin author's name.
Author URI: Link to the author's website.
Version: Plugin version.
Text Domain: Optional. Unique identifier, should be same as the one used in
	 load_plugin_textdomain().
Domain Path: Optional. Only useful if the translations are located in a
	 folder above the plugin's base path. For example, if .mo files are
	 located in the locale folder then Domain Path will be "/locale/" and
	 must have the first slash. Defaults to the base folder the plugin is
	 located in.
Network: Optional. Specify "Network: true" to require that a plugin is activated
	 across all sites in an installation. This will prevent a plugin from being
	 activated on a single site when Multisite is enabled.
Requires at least: Optional. Specify the minimum required WordPress version.
Requires PHP: Optional. Specify the minimum required PHP version.
* / # Remove the space to close comment.

The first 8 KB of the file will be pulled in and if the plugin data is not within that first 8 KB, then the plugin author should correct their plugin and move the plugin data headers to the top.

The plugin file is assumed to have permissions to allow for scripts to read the file. This is not checked however and the file is only opened for reading.

Uses: get_file_data()
Used By: get_plugins()

No Hooks.

Return

Array. Plugin data. Values will be empty if not supplied by the plugin.

Usage

get_plugin_data( $plugin_file, $markup, $translate );
$plugin_file(string) (required)
Absolute path to the main plugin file.
$markup(true|false)
If the returned data should have HTML markup applied.
Default: true
$translate(true|false)
If the returned data should be translated.
Default: true

Examples

1

#1 Get the plugin data

An example of how you can get plugin data when you create a plugin.

Although, I can hardly imagine where this might be needed, so let it be a demonstration example:

add_action( 'admin_init', function(){

	// add function if needed
	if( ! function_exists('get_plugin_data') ){
		require_once( ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/plugin.php' );
	}

	$plugin_data = get_plugin_data( __FILE__ );

	// print the name of the plugin
	echo $plugin_data['Name']; 

	// print all the data

	print_r( $plugin_data );
} );

Another alternative (depending on circumstances) could be to use get_file_data() instead. It’s the same function as used by get_plugin_data(), but without the ‘bells and whistles’. And because get_file_data() lives in wp-includes/functions.php, there is no need to include wp-admin/includes/plugin.php on non-admin screens.

Changelog

Since 1.5.0 Introduced.
Since 5.3.0 Added support for Requires at least and Requires PHP headers.
Since 5.8.0 Added support for Update URI header.
Since 6.5.0 Added support for Requires Plugins header.

get_plugin_data() code WP 6.7.1

wp-admin/includes/plugin.php 
function get_plugin_data( $plugin_file, $markup = true, $translate = true ) {

	$default_headers = array(
		'Name'            => 'Plugin Name',
		'PluginURI'       => 'Plugin URI',
		'Version'         => 'Version',
		'Description'     => 'Description',
		'Author'          => 'Author',
		'AuthorURI'       => 'Author URI',
		'TextDomain'      => 'Text Domain',
		'DomainPath'      => 'Domain Path',
		'Network'         => 'Network',
		'RequiresWP'      => 'Requires at least',
		'RequiresPHP'     => 'Requires PHP',
		'UpdateURI'       => 'Update URI',
		'RequiresPlugins' => 'Requires Plugins',
		// Site Wide Only is deprecated in favor of Network.
		'_sitewide'       => 'Site Wide Only',
	);

	$plugin_data = get_file_data( $plugin_file, $default_headers, 'plugin' );

	// Site Wide Only is the old header for Network.
	if ( ! $plugin_data['Network'] && $plugin_data['_sitewide'] ) {
		/* translators: 1: Site Wide Only: true, 2: Network: true */
		_deprecated_argument( __FUNCTION__, '3.0.0', sprintf( __( 'The %1$s plugin header is deprecated. Use %2$s instead.' ), '<code>Site Wide Only: true</code>', '<code>Network: true</code>' ) );
		$plugin_data['Network'] = $plugin_data['_sitewide'];
	}
	$plugin_data['Network'] = ( 'true' === strtolower( $plugin_data['Network'] ) );
	unset( $plugin_data['_sitewide'] );

	// If no text domain is defined fall back to the plugin slug.
	if ( ! $plugin_data['TextDomain'] ) {
		$plugin_slug = dirname( plugin_basename( $plugin_file ) );
		if ( '.' !== $plugin_slug && ! str_contains( $plugin_slug, '/' ) ) {
			$plugin_data['TextDomain'] = $plugin_slug;
		}
	}

	if ( $markup || $translate ) {
		$plugin_data = _get_plugin_data_markup_translate( $plugin_file, $plugin_data, $markup, $translate );
	} else {
		$plugin_data['Title']      = $plugin_data['Name'];
		$plugin_data['AuthorName'] = $plugin_data['Author'];
	}

	return $plugin_data;
}

Files data (get file info)

plugin

Plugins, Hooks