Arbitrary Shortcodes
This plugin allows you to write your page content like this: “Contact our company, [company_name], by email at: [email].”
Consider an alternative
Arbitrary Shortcodes shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 17 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 17 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 2.7 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & supportDaily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Arbitrary Shortcodes stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| customfields | #24 |
| replace | >100 |
| shortcodes | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About Arbitrary Shortcodes
From the official readme · v1.0Description
Replaces Shortcodes with Homepage Custom Fields.
This plugin allows you to write your page content like this:
“Contact our company, [company_name], by email at: [email].”
Text with these shortcodes can be defined on any number of pages throughout your site.
The values of all of the shortcodes are controlled in a single location: the Custom Fields of your blog’s home page. For the above example, there would be Custom Fields on the home page called “company_name” and “email” with the values, respectively, of “Example Company Name” and “info@example.com”.
This plugin requires that you have WordPress set to show a static Page on the home page under Settings->Reading and “Front page”.
So then, for all the custom fields entered on the home page, this plugin looks for shortcodes (in all pages) and replaces each of their values, upon output, with the relevant custom field value.
This is useful for if you want to fill many pages with text that includes an arbitrary number of shortcodes or template text and have all the values can be replaced in one place.
-By Phil Freo
Installation
This plugin requires that you have WordPress set to show a static Page on the home page under Settings->Reading and “Front page”.
- Upload the
arbitrary-shortcodes/folder to the/wp-content/plugins/directory - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Fill your content on any page(s) on your site with the desired arbitrary shortcodes
- For each shortcode you would like to define, create a custom field (and value) on the page that is shown as the “home page” for the site.
For developers
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Best Arbitrary Shortcodes alternatives
All customfields plugins →| Rank | Plugin | Active installs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Edit Custom Fields
A simple interface to edit or delete Custom Fields.
|
2K+ |
| 3 |
LJ-Moods
Displays the mood, music, and location fields as imported by the LiveJournal importer at…
|
10+ |
FAQ
Arbitrary Shortcodes: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 30, 2026
Is Arbitrary Shortcodes free?
Yes. Arbitrary Shortcodes is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Arbitrary Shortcodes safe to use in 2026?
Arbitrary Shortcodes shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 17 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Arbitrary Shortcodes?
Arbitrary Shortcodes is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 2,342 times since it launched in May 2009. It was downloaded 69 times in the last 30 days.
Does Arbitrary Shortcodes work with WordPress 7.1?
Arbitrary Shortcodes is officially tested up to WordPress 2.7.1, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Arbitrary Shortcodes last updated?
The latest version, 1.0, was released on May 11, 2009 (17 years ago).
Who makes Arbitrary Shortcodes?
Arbitrary Shortcodes is developed and maintained by philfreo.
What are the best alternatives to Arbitrary Shortcodes?
The most popular alternatives to Arbitrary Shortcodes are Edit Custom Fields (2K+ installs) and LJ-Moods (10+ installs).
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