Prism Syntax Highlighter (detached)
Adds Prism Syntax Highlighting to WordPress, using custom fields for your code examples.
Consider an alternative
Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac… shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 13 years ago, and scores 30/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 13 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 3.5 (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 Prism Syntax Highlighter (d… stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| prism | #62 |
| syntax highlighting | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews
About Prism Syntax Highlighter (detached)
From the official readme · v1.5Description
Integrates the Prism Syntax Highlighting Library in WordPress.
It is called detached, since the code examples are not stuffed into the rich text editor, together with all the
other texts and content, but they are added separately as custom fields and just referenced via short tags (like footnotes).
Check Other Notes for usage documentation.
The official development repository is hosted on Github.
Usage
The basic procedure is:
- Create a custom field and paste the code into it.
- Insert the
[prism ...]shorttag in your code, where you want the code block to appear.
Shorttag
[prism key=".." language=".." line=".." line_offset=".." post=".."]
key: the name of the custom field, which contains the code (required)language: the language to highlightline: highlighted lines (for syntax, check the offical docs)line_offset: the offset, with which the line numbering should startpost: if you want to include a code piece of another post, you can explicitly specify the post id here
Cached Assets loader
The plugin includes (from v1.3 on) a cached assets loader, so that all needed assets are concatenated into
one js and one css file to minimize the HTTP requests.
To make use of the cached assets loader, just create a directory /cache/ inside your plugin directory and make it writable for PHP.
Supported languages
Only the ones from the official PrismJS repository
- bash (Bash Unix Shell)
- c
- clike
- coffeescript
- cpp (C++)
- css
- groovy
- java
- javascript
- markup (like: xHTML, MathML, SVG, LaTeX, RSS, XML, OWL, etc.)
- php
- python
- scss (Sassy CSS)
- sql
Creating Custom Extensions
Please read the wiki page: Creating A Custom Extension.
Installation
- Upload the files to your
/wp-content/plugins/directory - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
Changelog
No upgrade notice yet, just use it and give feedback. :-)
1.5
- Updated PrismJS to commit: 07c0f4f6b2
- Added plugin descriptions
- Added new plugins: File Highlight, WebPlatform Docs
- Added language-code descriptions
- Added new languages: Bash (Unix Shell), C, C-like, Coffeescript, C++, Groovy, PHP, Python, Sassy CSS, and SQL
- Added new themes: Okaida, Tomorrow, Twilight
** 1.5 update brought to you by JC John Sese Cuneta (http://jcsesecuneta.com) ** thank you!
1.4
- Fixed a compatibility problem with older PHP versions (< 5.4)
1.3
- Minor optical updates of the admin interface
- Refactored nearly complete plugin
- Added support for generic extensions
- Added cached assets loader
- Added support for experimental PHP plugin
1.2
- Updated the prism library to
34f0bd5247
1.1
- Load line-highlight correctly
- Moved html attributes to the correct tag
- Fixed wrong asset loading
1.0
- Initial commit
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best Prism Syntax Highlighter (det… alternatives
All prism plugins →FAQ
Prism Syntax Highlighter (detached): quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 14, 2026
Is Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac… free?
Yes. Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac… is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac… safe to use in 2026?
Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac… shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 13 years ago, and scores 30/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac…?
Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac… is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 3,269 times since it launched in September 2012. It was downloaded 47 times in the last 30 days.
Does Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac… work with WordPress 7.1?
Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac… is officially tested up to WordPress 3.5.2, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac… last updated?
The latest version, 1.5, was released on July 30, 2013 (13 years ago).
Who makes Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac…?
Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac… is developed and maintained by apfelbox.
What are the best alternatives to Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac…?
The most popular alternatives to Prism Syntax Highlighter (detac… are APH Prism Syntax Highlighter (90+ installs), AH Code Highlighter (60+ installs) and WP Prism Syntax Highlighter (30+ installs).
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