# How to Change Hook Priority in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide
WooCommerce is incredibly powerful, but sometimes its default functionality needs tweaking. One way to customize WooCommerce is by manipulating action hooks and filter hooks. These hooks allow you to add your own code to modify existing functionality or add entirely new features. A crucial aspect of working with hooks is understanding hook priority. This article will guide you through changing hook priority in WooCommerce, even if you’re a coding newbie.
What is Hook Priority?
Imagine a restaurant kitchen. Several chefs (your plugins and custom code) are preparing dishes (functions). Each dish needs to be served in a specific order. Hook priority dictates this order. A higher priority means your code executes *before* code with a lower priority. The default priority is 10.
- Lower Priority (e.g., 5): Your code runs *before* the core WooCommerce code or plugins with default priority.
- Default Priority (10): Your code runs alongside other plugins and core functions with the same priority. This can lead to conflicts.
- Higher Priority (e.g., 15): Your code runs *after* the core WooCommerce code and plugins with default priority.
Understanding this order is key to avoiding conflicts and ensuring your customizations work correctly.
Why Change Hook Priority?
Let’s say you’ve added a plugin that modifies the product description, but another plugin also modifies it at the same priority (10). This can lead to unexpected results: one plugin might overwrite the other, leading to a broken or incomplete product description. Changing the hook priority allows you to control *when* your code runs, preventing these conflicts.
Another common scenario involves overriding existing functionality. If you want your custom function to replace a core WooCommerce function, a higher priority will ensure yours is executed last and thus overrides the original.
How to Change Hook Priority in WooCommerce
Changing hook priority involves using the `add_action()` or `add_filter()` function with a third argument specifying the priority.
Using `add_action()`
`add_action()` is used for action hooks, which trigger specific actions. For example, modifying the content of an order confirmation email is an action.
Let’s say you want to add a custom message to the WooCommerce order confirmation email *after* WooCommerce’s default message. Here’s how you’d do it:
add_action( 'woocommerce_email_order_details', 'my_custom_order_details', 20 );
function my_custom_order_details( $order, $sent_to_admin ) {
echo ‘
Thank you for your order! This message was added with a higher priority.
‘;
}
In this example:
- `’woocommerce_email_order_details’` is the hook name.
- `’my_custom_order_details’` is the name of our custom function.
- `20` is the priority. Because it’s higher than the default 10, our message will appear *after* the default WooCommerce message.
Using `add_filter()`
`add_filter()` is used for filter hooks, which modify data before it’s used. For example, altering the product title is a filter.
Let’s say you want to modify the product title by adding “(Sale!)” to any product on sale:
add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_title', 'add_sale_to_title', 20, 1 );
function add_sale_to_title( $title ) {
global $product;
if ( $product->is_on_sale() ) {
return $title . ‘ (Sale!)’;
}
return $title;
}
Here:
- `’woocommerce_product_title’` is the filter hook.
- `’add_sale_to_title’` is our custom function.
- `20` is the priority.
- `1` indicates Explore this article on How To Insert A Slideshow In A Category Page Woocommerce the number of arguments passed to the function.
Important: Always use a child theme or a dedicated plugin to add your custom code to avoid losing your changes when WooCommerce or its plugins update.
Conclusion
Changing hook priority is a powerful technique for customizing WooCommerce. By understanding how it works and using the `add_action()` and `add_filter()` functions correctly, you can create a more efficient and tailored WooCommerce experience. Remember to always test your code thoroughly after making changes!
