Title: hide_empty on default theme not working
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# hide_empty on default theme not working

 *  Resolved [krackerjax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/krackerjax/)
 * (@krackerjax)
 * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hide_empty-on-default-theme-not-working/)
 * At first I thought is was a program with the themes I was using. I’ve installed
   them through just searching the WP theme database. So, I decided I’d try this
   on the default WP theme.
 * Originally there is the following:
 * `<?php wp_list_categories('show_count=1&title_li=<h2>Categories</h2>'); ?>`
 * I changed it to:
 * `<?php wp_list_categories('show_count=1&title_li=<h2>Categories</h2>&hide_empty
   =0'); ?>`
 * On the sidebar it still does not show the empty categories. I modified the code
   by the theme editor. Just to see if it was maybe not updating I manually modified
   the code in Notepad++ then FTPed the file to my website. Still no go.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

 *  [Michael](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alchymyth/)
 * (@alchymyth)
 * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hide_empty-on-default-theme-not-working/#post-1492909)
 * are you using widgets?
 * if yes, then the fixed coded ‘wp_list_categories()’ in sidebar.php does not work.
 *  Thread Starter [krackerjax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/krackerjax/)
 * (@krackerjax)
 * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hide_empty-on-default-theme-not-working/#post-1492914)
 * I believe so. I clicked on Widgets and then dragged the categories box to the
   sidebar. What coding do I need to edit then?
 *  [Michael](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alchymyth/)
 * (@alchymyth)
 * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hide_empty-on-default-theme-not-working/#post-1492917)
 * you would need to edit a wordpress core file (not recommended as the edits will
   be lost after an upgrade):
 * /wp-includes/default-widgets.php (about line 415 in wp2.9)
 *  Thread Starter [krackerjax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/krackerjax/)
 * (@krackerjax)
 * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hide_empty-on-default-theme-not-working/#post-1492918)
 * That sucks. I would have though that they would have designed WP core files to
   work with not against template files.
 *  [Michael](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alchymyth/)
 * (@alchymyth)
 * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hide_empty-on-default-theme-not-working/#post-1492955)
 * probably the reason that there are plugins for everything; for instance:
    [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/extended-categories-widget/](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/extended-categories-widget/)
 *  Thread Starter [krackerjax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/krackerjax/)
 * (@krackerjax)
 * [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hide_empty-on-default-theme-not-working/#post-1493092)
 * Ahh.. 🙂 I was spending a lot of time trying to convert the template to be widget
   ready. However, I just downloading, installed, and configured that plugin you
   mentioned. Works perfectly. Thanks.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

The topic ‘hide_empty on default theme not working’ is closed to new replies.

 * 6 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [krackerjax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/krackerjax/)
 * Last activity: [16 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hide_empty-on-default-theme-not-working/#post-1493092)
 * Status: resolved

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