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Use PHP’s in_array() to compare a variable to multiple values

When comparing a variable with multiple values consider using in_array(), instead of complex if expressions. I love clean, easy-to-read code, which is why I am not a fan of if statements with complex expressions. For example, consider the following snippet, which is checking a variable against several values: if ($test_variable === 'value1' || $test_variable === […]

How to reindex spotlight on macOS to stop it closing after a few characters

This post is a somewhat off-topic, but for all those of you that are working on Macs, here’s a little tip to reset Spotlight when starts closing after just a few characters. You could try going into System Preferences and adding a drive in the Privacy tab, then removing it, but it didn’t work for […]

How to fix ansible/vagrant ERROR! the role ‘swapfile’ was not found

This article provides a simple fix for the ansible error, “sorry, tersmitten.swapfile was not found”, by updating 1 (maybe 2?) .yml config file. If you have encountered the above error, or “ERROR! the role ‘swapfile’ was not found”, then chances are you are using a dependency that is no longer supported (or more precisely, it […]

How to fix macOS usr/local is not writable

This simple post should fix the “usr/local is not writable” issue with homebrew. Whilst on holiday I needed to use an old MacBook to crack on with some work. In order to do so I had to install the latest version of ansible, but encountered the permissions error “usr/local is not writable”. I found uninstalling […]

How to call wp_get_attachment_image() without srcset

Sometimes it’s nice to have all the goodies wrapped up in a nice little function, such as wp_get_attachment_image(). This is a great function that generates the entire html for an image tag, including srcset and sizes. However, wouldn’t it be great if sometimes we could get all the goodness from this wonderful function, but just […]

A simple filter to hide specific widgets on specific pages

It’s not uncommon to only want to show specific sidebar widgets or footer widgets in certain views. In the case below we didn’t want to show a client’s teaser widget of their recent installations when the visitor was already viewing any of their portfolio pages. So here’s a simple filter that does just that: /** […]

How to disable directory views with a blank file or a single line of code

By default the directories (folders) of your website and other applications may be publicly viewable for all to browse. This is a potential security risk, but thankfully one that can be reduced very easily. Here are two simple options to reduce this risk by preventing the directories from showing their content as browsable lists: Option […]