Shortcodes

A PHP library for parsing WordPress/BBCode style shortcodes. Define your own shortcode tags and transform them into whatever output you need.

[style color=#FF0000]Red Text[/style]

becomes...

<span style="color:#FF0000;">Red Text</span>

Requirements

• PHP 8.1 or higher

Installation

composer require jaybizzle/shortcodes

Quick Start

1. Create a Shortcode Class

Each shortcode needs a handler class that extends Shortcode and implements a parse() method.

<?php

namespace App\Shortcodes;

use Jaybizzle\Shortcodes\Shortcode;

class BoldShortcode extends Shortcode
{
    public static $shortcode = 'bold';

    public function parse()
    {
        return "<strong>{$this->content}</strong>";
    }
}

2. Register and Parse

use App\Shortcodes\BoldShortcode;
use Jaybizzle\Shortcodes\Shortcodes;

$shortcodes = new Shortcodes;
$shortcodes->add(BoldShortcode::class);

echo $shortcodes->parse('This is [bold]important[/bold] text.');
// Output: This is <strong>important</strong> text.

Defining Shortcodes

Every shortcode class must:

• Extend Jaybizzle\Shortcodes\Shortcode
• Set a static $shortcode property (the tag name)
• Implement a parse() method that returns a string

Accessing Attributes

Attributes passed to a shortcode are available via $this->attributes or as magic properties via $this->attributeName.

class VideoShortcode extends Shortcode
{
    public static $shortcode = 'video';

    public function parse()
    {
        $width = $this->attributes['width'] ?? 640;
        $height = $this->attributes['height'] ?? 480;
        $src = $this->attributes['src'] ?? '';

        return "<video width=\"{$width}\" height=\"{$height}\" controls>
            <source src=\"{$src}\" type=\"video/mp4\">
        </video>";
    }
}

[video src="/videos/demo.mp4" width=320 height=240]

Accessing Content

Content between opening and closing tags is available via $this->content.

class AlertShortcode extends Shortcode
{
    public static $shortcode = 'alert';

    public function parse()
    {
        $type = $this->attributes['type'] ?? 'info';

        return "<div class=\"alert alert-{$type}\">{$this->content}</div>";
    }
}

[alert type="warning"]Please read the documentation.[/alert]

Magic Properties

You can access attributes directly as properties on the shortcode instance. Accessing an attribute that doesn't exist will throw an exception.

class LinkShortcode extends Shortcode
{
    public static $shortcode = 'link';

    public function parse()
    {
        return "<a href=\"{$this->url}\">{$this->content}</a>";
    }
}

[link url="https://example.com"]Click here[/link]

Shortcode Syntax

The following shortcode formats are all supported:

[tag]                          Self-closing (no attributes)
[tag /]                        Self-closing (explicit)
[tag]content[/tag]             With content
[tag foo=bar]                  Unquoted attribute
[tag foo="bar"]                Double-quoted attribute
[tag foo='bar']                Single-quoted attribute
[tag foo=bar baz="qux"]       Multiple attributes
[tag foo bar]                  Positional attributes (numeric keys)
[[tag]]                        Escaped (outputs [tag] literally)

Registering Shortcodes

Single Registration

$shortcodes->add(BoldShortcode::class);

Bulk Registration

$shortcodes->add([
    BoldShortcode::class,
    VideoShortcode::class,
    AlertShortcode::class,
    LinkShortcode::class,
]);

Tag names with shared prefixes (e.g. image and image-url) are handled automatically — longer tag names are always matched first regardless of registration order.

API Reference

add(string|array $classes): void

Register one or more shortcode handler classes.

$shortcodes->add(BoldShortcode::class);
$shortcodes->add([BoldShortcode::class, LinkShortcode::class]);

remove(string $tag): void

Remove a registered shortcode by tag name.

$shortcodes->add(BoldShortcode::class);
$shortcodes->remove('bold');

// [bold] tags will no longer be parsed

removeAll(): void

Remove all registered shortcodes.

$shortcodes->removeAll();

parse(string $content): string

Parse content and replace all registered shortcode tags with their output.

$result = $shortcodes->parse('Hello [bold]world[/bold]!');

stripShortcodes(string $content): string

Remove all registered shortcode tags from the content without replacing them.

$shortcodes->add(BoldShortcode::class);

$result = $shortcodes->stripShortcodes('Hello [bold]world[/bold]!');
// Output: Hello  world !

stripShortcode(string $shortcode, string $content): string

Remove a specific shortcode tag from the content. Does not require the shortcode to be registered.

$result = $shortcodes->stripShortcode('bold', 'Hello [bold]world[/bold] and [link url=#]click[/link]!');
// Output: Hello  world  and [link url=#]click[/link]!

getShortcode(string $shortcode, string $content): array

Extract attributes from all instances of a specific shortcode tag in the content. Does not require the shortcode to be registered.

$attributes = $shortcodes->getShortcode('video', 'Watch [video id=1] and [video id=2]');
// Returns: [['id' => '1'], ['id' => '2']]

getShortcodes(string $content): array

Extract attributes from all registered shortcode tags found in the content.

$shortcodes->add([VideoShortcode::class, ImageShortcode::class]);

$all = $shortcodes->getShortcodes('[video id=1] and [image src="photo.jpg"]');
// Returns: ['video' => [['id' => '1']], 'image' => [['src' => 'photo.jpg']]]

Full Example

<?php

use Jaybizzle\Shortcodes\Shortcode;
use Jaybizzle\Shortcodes\Shortcodes;

class StyleShortcode extends Shortcode
{
    public static $shortcode = 'style';

    public function parse()
    {
        $color = $this->attributes['color'] ?? 'inherit';
        $size = $this->attributes['size'] ?? 'inherit';

        return "<span style=\"color:{$color}; font-size:{$size};\">{$this->content}</span>";
    }
}

$shortcodes = new Shortcodes;
$shortcodes->add(StyleShortcode::class);

$input = 'This is [style color=#FF0000]red[/style] and [style color=#0000FF size=20px]large blue[/style] text.';
$output = $shortcodes->parse($input);

// Output: This is <span style="color:#FF0000; font-size:inherit;">red</span> and <span style="color:#0000FF; font-size:20px;">large blue</span> text.

License

MIT