Title: php compatibility issue
Last modified: February 10, 2022

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# php compatibility issue

 *  Resolved [gbomb](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gbomb/)
 * (@gbomb)
 * [4 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-compatibility-issue-5/)
 * I tried to upgrade my php to 7.3 from 5.6.4 and I got a error that said this 
   website had a critical error and my screen shrank when viewing it on desktop.
   I used a php compatibility checker plugin to see if I can figure out what’s causing
   the issue. It gave me this error:
 * 3 | ERROR | ‘string’ is a reserved keyword as of PHP version 7.0 and should not
   be used to name a class, interface or trait or as part of a namespace (T_NAMESPACE)
 * I’m not very techy and don’t know if this has anything to do with me having issue
   upgrading. Could you shed some light on this?

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

 *  [Steven](https://wordpress.org/support/users/shazahm1hotmailcom/)
 * (@shazahm1hotmailcom)
 * [4 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-compatibility-issue-5/#post-15353075)
 * This is a false positive by the PHP Compatibility Checker plugin.
 * Before you upgrade PHP:
    - Do a full backup, site files and database. The webhost usually has tools in
      their control panel to do this for you.
    - Ensure WP is updated to latest.
    - Ensure plugins are up to date.
    - Ensure theme is up to date.
    - Deactivate all plugins.
    - Switch to default theme ( One of the Twenty Twenty themes ).
    - Update PHP. PHP 7.4.x or 8.0.x
    - The site _should_ still load fine. At this point.
    - Activate the theme.
    - Activate the plugins on at a time.
    - If you receive a fatal error after activating a plugin, the last plugin activated
      is the cause of the error.
    - If a fatal error does occur, WP can enter [Recovery Mode](https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-fix-the-critical-error-in-wordpress/).
    - One in Recovery Mode, deactivate the plugin the last plugin active and exit
      Recovery Mode.
    - Repeat the process until the site runs normally.
 * I hope this helps!

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

The topic ‘php compatibility issue’ is closed to new replies.

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## Tags

 * [php](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/php/)
 * [reserved](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/reserved/)

 * 1 reply
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Steven](https://wordpress.org/support/users/shazahm1hotmailcom/)
 * Last activity: [4 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-compatibility-issue-5/#post-15353075)
 * Status: resolved