How update the copyright date in WordPress automatically

The copyright date on WordPress site is important for showing users that the information on the site is up to date. If done manually, there is a good chance that the copyright date will be missed. This article demonstrates how to use a simple code snippet to automatically update the copyright date on WordPress site when the calendar year changes.

To update site copyright date automatically  in WordPress, follow these steps:

1. Log in to WordPress as the administrator.
2. On the Dashboard in the left sidebar, click Appearance, and then click Editor:

   

3. On the Theme Editor, select the Theme you want to edit from the dropdown:
   

   

4. The files for this selected theme are listed on the right column under Theme Files. Click on the file named “functions.php”:
   

   

5. Insert the following code to the end of functions.php file and click Update File Button to save the changes:

   function copyright($start_year, $site_name) {
     $year = date('Y');
     echo "© Copyright ";
     echo $start_year;
     if($start_year != $year) echo "-$year";
     echo ", $site_name, All Rights Reserved.";
   }
   

6. Click on the file named “footer.php” and insert the following code in the file:

   <div class='copyright'>
   
   <?php copyright(2021, "Your Site Name Goes Here"); ?>
   
   </div>
   

   Note: In the above code, “2021” refers start year of your site which is going to be hardcoded