How to use pre_uninstall_plugin action in WordPress

pre_uninstall_plugin action

Fires in uninstall_plugin() immediately before the plugin is uninstalled.

To use the pre_uninstall_plugin action, you first have to register it using add_action. You can write this code into the functions.php of your activated theme or in a custom WordPress Plugin.

We at WePlugins always prefer to create a custom WordPress Plugin while using hooks so nothing breaks when you update your WordPress Theme in the future.

In the below live example, we have defined a function weplugins_execute_on_pre_uninstall_plugin_event which takes 2 parameters and we registered using add_action. The first parameter pre_uninstall_plugin is the name of the hook. The second parameter weplugins_execute_on_pre_uninstall_plugin_event is the name of the function which needs to be called. The third parameter is the priority of calling the hook if the same hook is used multiple times and the last parameter is the number of arguments (if any) to be passed in the registered function.

Sometimes, you have to remove a registered hook, so you can use remove_action to remove the pre_uninstall_plugin action.

Parameters

Below are the 2 parameters required to use this hook.

• $plugin : (string) Path to the plugin file relative to the plugins directory.
• $uninstallable_plugins : (array) Uninstallable plugins.

Live Example

Example 1: Basic Usage

Below is an example of how you can use this hook.

    function weplugins_execute_on_pre_uninstall_plugin_event($plugin, $uninstallable_plugins) {
        // You can write code here to be executed when this action occurs in WordPress.
        // Use the parameters received in the function arguments & implement the required additional custom functionality according to your website requirements.
    }
    // Add the action
    add_action("pre_uninstall_plugin", "weplugins_execute_on_pre_uninstall_plugin_event", 10, 2);
    

Example 2: Removing the Hook

To remove a hook callback, use the example below.

    remove_action("pre_uninstall_plugin", "weplugins_execute_on_pre_uninstall_plugin_event", 10, 2);
    

Please make sure to provide the same callback function name, priority, and number of arguments while removing the hook callback.

Example 3: Conditional Logic

You might want to add some conditional logic within the hook to check specific plugin details before executing further.

    function weplugins_execute_on_pre_uninstall_plugin_event($plugin, $uninstallable_plugins) {
        // Check if the plugin is in the uninstallable plugins list
        if (in_array($plugin, $uninstallable_plugins)) {
            // Execute custom logic
        }
    }
    add_action("pre_uninstall_plugin", "weplugins_execute_on_pre_uninstall_plugin_event", 10, 2);