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WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter icon
Possibly abandoned Tested up to 3.4.2

WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter

WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter works in conjunction with Markdown-formatted code blocks and SyntaxHighlighter to properly format code.

Active installs10+10+ tier
Downloads · 30d42▲ +40% vs prev. 30d
Rating—0 reviews
Health score23/100At risk
All-time downloads3.3KSince Sep 2012
Support resolved—No recent threads
RequiresWP 3.1PHP any
Downloads · 7d6▼ -53.8% week over week
Our verdict

Consider an alternative

WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 14 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.

  • Small user base (10+ active installs)
  • Very few reviews so far
  • No update in 14 years
  • Only tested up to WordPress 3.4 (latest is 7.1)

How does it stack up?

Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support

Daily downloads

134Jul 16Aug 29Oct 13
Yesterday1
Daily average (1y)1
Peak day7May 29, 2026
Last 12 months328

Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.

Rankings

Where WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlight… stands today

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100
KeywordPositionCompeting pluginsCategory
code >100 10,000 Best code plugins →
markdown >100 1,392 Best markdown plugins →
pre >100 5,755 Best pre plugins →
syntax >100 2,203 Best syntax plugins →
SyntaxHighlighter #39 58 Best SyntaxHighlighter plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

  • 0.4100.0%

About WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter

From the official readme · v0.4

Description

WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter is intended to work with the wp-markdown and SyntaxHighlighter Evolved plugins as follows:

  • WP-Markdown can automatically use Prettify.js to format code, but if you prefer Alex Gorbatchev’s SyntaxHighlighter, this plugin will re-format the Markdown-formatted code blocks to be properly styled by SyntaxHighlighter directly or SyntaxHighlighter Evolved via plugin.
  • SyntaxHighlighter Evolved uses SyntaxHighlighter and additional extended functionality to display code blocks in an easily readable manner.

There are two methods of use:

  1. Add a #! line to your code example and specify the language (brush) only
  2. Add a #!! line to your code example and specify any/all supported parameters via a JSON object

Simple Method

To use, add a #! line as the first line of your code example with the language you are using:

#!ruby
class Foo < Bar
  def hello
    puts "Hello World!"
  end
end

The #! is removed, and the code is reformatted as:

<pre class="brush:ruby; notranslate" title="">class One < Two
  def hello
    puts "Hello World!"
  end
end</pre>

Full Method

To use, add a #!! line as the first line of your code example, with any of the supported SyntaxHighlighter parameters as a JSON object

#!!{"brush":"ruby","toolbar":"true","highlight":"[2,3,4]"}
class Foo < Bar
  def hello
    puts "Hello World!"
  end
end

The #!! is removed, and the parameters are interpreted into a CSS class string as:

<pre class="brush: ruby; toolbar: true; highlight: [2,3,4]; notranslate">class Foo < Bar
  def hello
    puts "Hello World!"
  end
end</pre>

TODO

  • Consider adding support to toggle ‘notranslate’

Installation

  1. Upload the wp-markdown-syntaxhighlighter folder (and its contents) to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
  3. Modify improperly formatted code blocks with your chosen #! or #!! formatting.

Changelog

0.4

  • Switched from preg_replace() to preg_replace_callback for ()
  • Removed some potentially harmful formatting code
  • Hat tip to Richard Cyrus for suggesting these changes

0.3.1

  • Updated licensing to GPL 2 in order to post in WP plugin directory
  • Cleaned up some comments, code formatting

0.3

  • Fixed case where both syntaxes could not be used in a single post
  • Added support for the title parameter (default: empty)

0.2.1

  • Refactored strings to constants
  • Fixed a typo

0.2

  • Added #!! syntax to support extended parameters from JSON string
  • Added support for the following parameters:
    • auto-links (default: true)
    • class-name (default: ”)
    • collapse (default: false)
    • first-line (default: 1)
    • gutter (default: true)
    • highlight (default: null, format is a number or array of numbers)
    • html-script (default: false)
    • ruler (default: false)
    • smart-tabs (default: true)
    • title (default: null) NOTE: This does not set the title attribute on the <pre> tag yet.
    • tab-size (default: 4)
    • toolbar (default: true)

0.1

  • Initial release

Full changelog on WordPress.org →

For developers

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FAQ

WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 14, 2026

Is WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter free?

Yes. WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.

Is WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter safe to use in 2026?

WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 14 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.

How many websites use WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter?

WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 3,313 times since it launched in September 2012. It was downloaded 42 times in the last 30 days.

Does WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter work with WordPress 7.1?

WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter is officially tested up to WordPress 3.4.2, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.

When was WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter last updated?

The latest version, 0.4, was released on September 17, 2012 (14 years ago).

Who makes WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter?

WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter is developed and maintained by mattshelton.

What are the best alternatives to WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter?

The most popular alternatives to WP-Markdown-SyntaxHighlighter are WPCode (3M+ installs), Code Snippets (1M+ installs) and Head & Footer Code (100K+ installs).

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