Double Hyphen in Wordpress
Before migrating to Octopress (and later to Hugo), this blog was written in Wordpress. Every time I
posted a tutorial with commands that have options with double hyphens (example: ls --all),
Wordpress formatted the two consecutive hyphens (--) as a single dash (—). This probably
confused the reader (e.g., ls --all), and also prevented the code from simply being copied from
the blog and pasted into the terminal.
We can change this configuration directly in the Wordpress source code.
Edit the
static_charactersarray, contained in the filewp-includes/formatting.phpjuliobor@box780 ~ $ vim www/blog/wp-includes/formatting.php
Before:
$static_characters = array_merge( array('---', ' -- ', '--', ' - ', 'xn–', '...', '``', '\'\'', ' (tm)'), $cockney );
$static_replacements = array_merge( array($em_dash, ' ' . $em_dash . ' ', $en_dash, ' ' . $en_dash . ' ', 'xn--', '…', $opening_quote, $closing_quote, ' ™'), $cockneyreplace );
After:
$static_characters = array_merge( array('------', ' ---- ', '----', ' - ', 'xn–', '...', '``', '\'\'', ' (tm)'), $cockney );
$static_replacements = array_merge( array($em_dash, ' ' . $em_dash . ' ', $en_dash, ' ' . $en_dash . ' ', 'xn--', '…', $opening_quote, $closing_quote, ' ™'), $cockneyreplace );
Now -- will appear as two small hyphens. If we want to insert a dash (—), we will need to type
four consecutive hyphens.
NOTE: Remember to do this after all Wordpress updates.
I’m a Brazilian computer engineer based in Germany, passionate about tech, science, photography, and languages.
I’ve been programming for about two decades already, exploring everything from mobile apps and web development to machine learning. These days I focus on cloud SRE and data engineering.
I volunteer in the open source and Python communities, helping organize PyCon DE and PyData Berlin, mentoring, and contributing with code and translations.
On my blog, I share Linux tips, setup guides, and personal notes I’ve written for future reference. I hope others find them helpful as well. The content is available in multiple languages.
Browse my gallery for some of my photography.
Away from the keyboard, you’ll find me at concerts, playing clarinet, cycling, scuba diving, or exploring new places, cultures, and cuisines.
Always happy to connect! 🙂