Title: Custom functions
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# Custom functions

 *  [talino](https://wordpress.org/support/users/talino/)
 * (@talino)
 * [19 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-functions/)
 * Hi all,
 * I need to add a very simple custom function to my template, which will receive
   a variable and then churn out some HTML automatically. But I don’t know where
   to put it (still new to WP): does it go into the function.php of my theme folder,
   or do I need to write a plugin, or is it something else entirely?
 * What I need to do is to be able to write inside a post something like <? my_function(
   parameter); ?> and then have the HTML added at that place in the post. Is it 
   even possible in WP (I mean, adding some PHP inside post text)?
 * Thanks.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  [Trent Adams](https://wordpress.org/support/users/trent/)
 * (@trent)
 * [19 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-functions/#post-483960)
 * You can create a plugin if you want, but there are many php plugins out there
   like:
 * Exec-PHP – [http://soeren-weber.net/post/2005/08/18/50/](http://soeren-weber.net/post/2005/08/18/50/)
 * PHP-Exec – [http://priyadi.net/archives/2005/03/02/wordpress-php-exec-plugin/](http://priyadi.net/archives/2005/03/02/wordpress-php-exec-plugin/)
 * RunPHP – [http://www.nosq.com/2004/10/runphp-wordpress-plugin](http://www.nosq.com/2004/10/runphp-wordpress-plugin)
 * All those plugins are listed in the codex.
 * [http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugins/Posts_Formatting](http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugins/Posts_Formatting)
 * Thanks,
 * Trent
 *  Thread Starter [talino](https://wordpress.org/support/users/talino/)
 * (@talino)
 * [19 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-functions/#post-483962)
 * Thanks a lot, now I see that I need a plugin to run PHP from within a post. But
   still, **where** do I write my function? Is my theme’s functions.php a good place?
 * Thanks a lot.
 *  [Trent Adams](https://wordpress.org/support/users/trent/)
 * (@trent)
 * [19 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-functions/#post-483968)
 * It would depend on what you are adding, but it could be anywhere you want. I 
   run php scripts in my site that are just uploaded into a directory in my wp-content
   folder.
 * I would try and place the function you are writing in something that isn’t a 
   core file so that you don’t have to keep updating it as the version changes.
 * Simple question, what is the function about? Does it involve any other WordPress
   file or is it standalone?
 * Trent
 *  [Kafkaesqui](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kafkaesqui/)
 * (@kafkaesqui)
 * [19 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-functions/#post-483977)
 * talino, your active theme’s functions.php is typically a good place for your 
   own functions, if you’re not up to creating a plugin. But keep in mind functions
   in that file will not work between themes.
 *  Thread Starter [talino](https://wordpress.org/support/users/talino/)
 * (@talino)
 * [19 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-functions/#post-484016)
 * Not working across themes is indeed a problem, but I don’t see what I can do 
   about it aside from writing a plugin (which I don’t know how to do, I tried reading
   about it and got totally confused).
 * The function is a very simple one, a kind of mini gallery. I want to be able 
   to add it between two paragraphs, and it should scan a specified folder and spit
   out formatted divs & tags based on my folder structure and links. This is so 
   that the mini gallery is automatically updated when I simply upload a new image.
 * For an example on how this looks: [http://www.talino.org/photography/fishermen/](http://www.talino.org/photography/fishermen/)
 * I simply want to write this in a post:
 * `blah blah
    <? gallery_here('blah'); ?> more blah
 * and have it create this dynamically :
 * `blah blah
    <div class="thumbnail"><a href="/images/blah/01.jpg" rel="lightbox[
   blah]"><img src="/images/blah/thumbs/01.jpg"/></a></div> <div class="thumbnail"
   ><a href="/images/blah/02.jpg" rel="lightbox[blah]"><img src="/images/blah/thumbs/
   02.jpg"/></a></div> more blah
 * etc, a div for each image in the folder.
 * I know how to write this function but I simply don’t know where 🙂
 * Thanks for all your help.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘Custom functions’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 5 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [talino](https://wordpress.org/support/users/talino/)
 * Last activity: [19 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/custom-functions/#post-484016)
 * Status: not resolved

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