Title: hyperlinks inside code tags
Last modified: January 19, 2024
---
# hyperlinks inside code tags
* Resolved [dmrzzz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dmrzzz/)
* (@dmrzzz)
* [2 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hyperlinks-inside-code-tags/)
* I’ve noticed an interesting discrepancy between Prismatic vs vanilla WordPress
behavior: if I add a new page, Option (kebab menu) > Code editor and paste the
following raw HTML:
* ```wp-block-code
I use perl -ne one-liners every day.
```
* and view the page with Prismatic **deactivated**, it renders as a hyperlink with
monospaced link text, like this:
* I use `[perl -ne](https://perldoc.perl.org/perlrun)` one-liners every day.
* However, when I activate Prismatic (even with Settings > Prismatic > General :
Library = None) and view the same page again, it instead renders the HTML markup
for the hyperlink, like this:
* I use `perl -ne` one-liners every
day.
* (which is not what I want — if I did want that, I would paste my markup into
the Visual editor, which would take care of HTML-escaping it with e.g. `<`
behind the scenes so it’s syntactically just text content for the code element)
* The test case above implicitly involves a Classic block, and one might argue
that when dealing with Classic blocks it’s my responsibility to invert those
tags (placing `code` inside of `a` instead of outside) and then everything would
be fine. However, it’s also pretty easy to fall into this same trap writing new
content using the WP block editor: if I type
* `I use perl -ne one-liners every day.`
* into a paragraph block, then put backticks around the `perl -ne` bit to make
it inline code, then select just that bit with my mouse and click the Link button(
and supply a URL) to make it a hyperlink, I end up with the same constellation
of underlying tags — `a` inside of `code` — which looks fine in the block editor
but not when viewing the page with Prismatic activated. The raw HTML in this
case ends up as:
* ```wp-block-code
I use perl -ne one-liners every day.
```
* As a sort of cherry on top, I note that the WP block editor is also perfectly
happy to let me select and hyperlink only _part_ of the contents of the code
tag (e.g. just the `rl`) in which case there’s no question of being able to solve
it by inverting the tags.
* Thanks in advance for considering what I suspect may be a rather thorny issue…
Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
* Plugin Author [Jeff Starr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/specialk/)
* (@specialk)
* [2 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hyperlinks-inside-code-tags/#post-17356056)
* Thanks again for the detailed report. I will take a closer look and try to resolve
any issue for the next plugin update.
* Plugin Author [Jeff Starr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/specialk/)
* (@specialk)
* [2 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hyperlinks-inside-code-tags/#post-17469091)
* Hey I am looking into this now, trying to follow along, but getting stuck on
this part:
* “add a new page, Option (kebab menu) > Code editor”
* When I go to create a new page, there is no “Option” or “kebab menu” displayed
or available anywhere. I am using latest WordPress and have tried using both
Classic and Block editors.
* Plugin Author [Jeff Starr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/specialk/)
* (@specialk)
* [2 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hyperlinks-inside-code-tags/#post-17470289)
* Thanks for explaining (in your other support request). So the issue happens with
block editor context. I am familiar with the Options menu, just never heard it
referred to as the “kebab menu” before. I will take another look and try to repeat
this error on default WordPress.
* Plugin Author [Jeff Starr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/specialk/)
* (@specialk)
* [2 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hyperlinks-inside-code-tags/#post-17470295)
* So I was able to repeat the issue and I think it happens because the plugin or
WP block (not sure which) escapes angle brackets when included inside of code
tags.
* Best practice is to use code tags only on content that should be considered code.
So when you include a hyperlink inside of code tags, it will be considered and
rendered as code. Instead, do the converse and wrap the link around your code
tags, for example:
* ```wp-block-code
perl -ne
```
* That is semantically correct and always will display correctly regardless of
which plugins or blocks etc. you are using.
* I hope this helps, let me know if I can provide any further information.
* Thread Starter [dmrzzz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dmrzzz/)
* (@dmrzzz)
* [2 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hyperlinks-inside-code-tags/#post-17473922)
* Hi Jeff, I won’t disagree with you about best practice for hand-crafted HTML,
but that doesn’t really solve the practical problem, because WP block editor
doesn’t help me (much less force me) to follow this best practice when I’m _not_
hand-crafting.
* Here’s a lengthier but perhaps more compelling version of the user story:
1. Deactivate Prismatic
2. add New Page “Test Page”
3. Type this text into a Paragraph block (with no formatting):
`I use perl -ne
one-liners every day.`
4. Click and drag the mouse to select the characters `perl -ne`
5. In the floating toolbar, click the More icon (looks like a squashed V) and select“
Inline code” from the drop-down menu.
(note that the selection remains selected)
6. In the floating toolbar, click the Link icon, paste `https://perldoc.perl.org/
perlrun` into the URL box, and press Enter.
7. Publish, then View the Page. It looks great, exactly as the author intended.
8. Activate Prismatic, then View the Page again. It now shows the markup for the
hyperlink, not at all what the author intended.
* FWIW, comparing browser’s View Page Source on the rendered page from step 7:
* `I use perl -ne one-liners every day.
`
* vs step 8:
* `I use <a href="https://perldoc.perl.org/perlrun">perl-
ne</a> one-liners every day.
`
* demonstrates that it’s definitely the plugin doing the escaping.
* IMO this frontend escaping is unwanted, because when I do need content escaped,
WP already does a good job of helping me escape it on the back end without any
help from Prismatic. For example, if I type `aa<b`, but this
is also the internal representation in the database. This vanilla WP mechanism
works equally well both inside and outside code tags, and personally I don’t
feel any other mechanism is needed. In the event that I do end up with unescaped
HTML inside a code tag, I would prefer that Prismatic (like vanilla WP) assume
it’s there on purpose and not rewrite it.
* That said, presumably you feel that the frontend escaping behavior inside code
tags by Prismatic is desirable in other use cases, or you wouldn’t have implemented
it. Would you consider adding a setting to enable/disable it?
* I notice that the settings pages already contain this help text which implies
the existence of such a setting: “**By default** all code contained in code tags
is escaped on the frontend.” (emphasis mine, since default implies a way to override
said default)
* Thanks again for your consideration!
* Plugin Author [Jeff Starr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/specialk/)
* (@specialk)
* [2 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hyperlinks-inside-code-tags/#post-17473961)
* Thanks for the detailed description, [@dmrzzz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dmrzzz/).
I will investigate this further and determine if there is anything that can/should
be done on the plugin side of things for the next update.
Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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* 6 replies
* 2 participants
* Last reply from: [Jeff Starr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/specialk/)
* Last activity: [2 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/hyperlinks-inside-code-tags/#post-17473961)
* Status: resolved