All code snippets you’ll need are available for copy & paste in the article. This works with all themes for WordPress, so you don’t have to use Divi from Elegant Themes.
Before we start – install a child theme
Before editing your php files, you should install a child theme on top of your parent theme. Otherwise, your changes will be overwritten next time that you update WordPress or your theme.
How to create a WordPress child theme »
Step 1. Allow shortcodes in WordPress widgets
A shortcode is a small code snippet that displays dynamic information, such as today’s date. A shortcode consists of a word within hooks, eg. [year] which, if correctly implemented, automatically displays 2024 – and gets updated automatically at the same time as the New Year Eve’s fireworks are taking off.
WordPress standard is that your footer (and sidebar) consists of widgets . Unfortunately, WordPress default settings does not support shortcodes in widgets; instead, it will only display shortcodes as plain text – (eg [year] – when you publish.
👉 Update 2021: The current version of WordPress now allows shortcodes in widgets (and in the body content) by default. Thus, you can skip directly to step 2 below. But if you run an old version of WordPress, you need to add the code from this step first.
But luckily you can change that with a few lines of code in functions.php. Start in your WordPress dashboard and go to Appearance > Theme Editor (or even better, use an FTP client or the file editor in your web hosting account). Then select functions.php in your child theme and add the following code at the end.
Bonus! All the shortcodes described in this article can also be used in the body copy in your WordPress pages and posts.
Step 2. Create your shortcode for the current year (and current month, current date or current day)
The next step is to create one or more shortcodes that display today’s date. Copy the code below for the date formats you want to use and paste it in your child theme functions.php. You can place the code below the code you added in the previous step. Save.
| Code in functions.php | Shortcode | Result |
//Display current year function year_shortcode () { $year = date_i18n (‘Y’); return $year; } add_shortcode (‘year’, ‘year_shortcode’); | [year] | 2024 |
//Display current month function month_shortcode () { $monthyear = date_i18n (‘F’); return $month; } add_shortcode (‘month’, ‘month_shortcode’); | [month] | September |
//Display current date as YYYY-MM-DD function yyyymmdd_shortcode () { $yyyymmdd = date_i18n (‘y-m-d’); return $yyyymmdd; } add_shortcode (‘yyyymmdd’, ‘yyyymmdd_shortcode’); | [yyyymmdd] | 2024-09-10 |
//Display current month and year function monthyear_shortcode () { $monthyear = date_i18n (‘F Y’); return $monthyear; } add_shortcode (‘monthyear’, ‘monthyear_shortcode’); | [monthyear] | September 2024 |
//Display current day function day_shortcode () { $day = date_i18n (‘l’); return $day; } add_shortcode (‘day’, ‘day_shortcode’); | [day] | Tuesday |
It should look something like this if you’ve entered all the code above:
👉 Pro tip: Do you want even more date formats to choose from? Here’s the complete date formats list.
Change language for current date
Do you want another language format for the current date? To change the language, just go to your WordPress dashboard and choose Settings and change Site Language to desired language. This will automatically refresh the date displayed from your shortcodes (for all code ninjas out there: this works since we are using date_i18n instead of just date in functions.php). Also make sure to choose the correct timezone for your website.
Change language and timezone settings and date default format in WordPress.
Step 3. Add “Copyright © 2021 Company Name. All rights reserved.” in your footer
Now we are done with the coding. Time to insert the current year shortcode into your footer. Go to Appearance> Widgets. Grab a Text Block and drop it on, for example, Footer Area # 1. In the text field, paste:
Replace Company Name to your desired company name and save.
👉 Update 2021: After recent WordPress updates, the widget area is now based on the Gutenberg block builder. However, it works perfectly fine to add shortcodes above to the Paragraph block. You can also use the Shortcode block and add plain text before and after the actual shortcode.
You can also try to add the other shortcodes [month], [yyyymmdd], [monthyear] and [day] in the footer widgets. The result should look something like this (yes, I did this on a Sunday):
That’s all for now. Good luck!
