Title: Permalink shortcode a href link
Last modified: September 27, 2019

---

# Permalink shortcode a href link

 *  [YOELO](https://wordpress.org/support/users/yoebo/)
 * (@yoebo)
 * [6 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-shortcode-a-href-link/)
 * I’m trying to create a link to the current page. I’ve created a shortcode that
   prints the URL. This works fine. But as soon as I put the shortcode in a link
   the url is empty and the permalink is displayed as text on the page above where
   it should be?
 * I just want to simply link to the current page permalink. This would be easy 
   but WordPress doesn’t allow PHP in the page/post editor.
 * My shortcode function:
 *     ```
       add_shortcode( 'my_permalink', 'my_permalink' );
       // The Permalink Shortcode
       function my_permalink() {
       ob_start();
           the_permalink(2);
       	$permalink = ob_get_clean();
       print(urlencode($permalink));
       }
       ```
   
 * `[my_permalink]`
    Produces the permalink as text but
 * `<a href="[my_permalink]">link</a>`
    creates an empty link and permalink as text.
    -  This topic was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by [YOELO](https://wordpress.org/support/users/yoebo/).
    -  This topic was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by [YOELO](https://wordpress.org/support/users/yoebo/).
    -  This topic was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by [YOELO](https://wordpress.org/support/users/yoebo/).
    -  This topic was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by [YOELO](https://wordpress.org/support/users/yoebo/).

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  Moderator [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/)
 * (@sterndata)
 * Volunteer Forum Moderator
 * [6 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-shortcode-a-href-link/#post-11975014)
 * Why not have your shortcode just return the entire href statement?
 * By the way, don’t use ob_* functions in your shortcodes. It can mess with system
   level caching.
    -  This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/).
 *  Thread Starter [YOELO](https://wordpress.org/support/users/yoebo/)
 * (@yoebo)
 * [6 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-shortcode-a-href-link/#post-11975035)
 * Thanks, that would be great but I’m not very good with PHP yet does this look
   OK with the **ob_** removed:
 *     ```
       add_shortcode( 'my_permalink', 'my_permalink' );
       // The Permalink Shortcode
       function my_permalink() {
           the_permalink(2);
       print(urlencode($permalink));
       }
       ```
   
 * The above code removes the url encoding.
    I will do some further research for
   including the whole href statement in one shortcode.
    -  This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by [YOELO](https://wordpress.org/support/users/yoebo/).
 *  Moderator [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/)
 * (@sterndata)
 * Volunteer Forum Moderator
 * [6 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-shortcode-a-href-link/#post-11975058)
 * no, because the_permalink echoes. You cannot “print” directly from a shortcode.
   Everything must be returned as a string.
 *     ```
       function my_permalink($atts, $content)j {
          return '<a href="'. get_the_permalink() .'">';
       }
       ```
   
 *  Thread Starter [YOELO](https://wordpress.org/support/users/yoebo/)
 * (@yoebo)
 * [6 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-shortcode-a-href-link/#post-11975149)
 * With a bit of tweaking I got it to work. I just need the permalink URL to be 
   encoded as it will be a variable on the end of a Facebook share URL.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘Permalink shortcode a href link’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [YOELO](https://wordpress.org/support/users/yoebo/)
 * Last activity: [6 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-shortcode-a-href-link/#post-11975149)
 * Status: not resolved

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