How to Display Recently Registered Users in WordPress Sidebar

Display Recently Registered Users in WordPress Sidebar

Sometimes you may want to display a list of recently registered users in your WordPress sidebar or other widget areas. This can be achieved by creating a custom function and shortcode. Below is an optimized and secure code example.

Create the Function to Get Recent Users

Add the following code to your theme's functions.php file or via a code snippets plugin.

/**
 * Get recently registered users
 *
 * @param int $limit Number of users to display (default 5).
 * @return string HTML list with avatars and names.
 */
function wp_get_recently_registered_users( $limit = 5 ) {
    global $wpdb;

    $limit = absint( $limit );
    if ( $limit <= 0 ) $limit = 5;

    $query = $wpdb->prepare(
        "SELECT user_nicename, user_url, user_email FROM {$wpdb->users} ORDER BY ID DESC LIMIT %d",
        $limit
    );
    $users = $wpdb->get_results( $query );

    if ( empty( $users ) ) return '';

    $output = '
';
    foreach ( $users as $user ) {
        $avatar = get_avatar( $user->user_email, 45 );
        if ( ! empty( $user->user_url ) ) {
            $profile_url = esc_url( $user->user_url );
            $output .= sprintf(
                '
%s%s
',
                $avatar,
                $profile_url,
                esc_html( $user->user_nicename )
            );
        } else {
            $output .= sprintf(
                '
%s%s
',
                $avatar,
                esc_html( $user->user_nicename )
            );
        }
    }
    $output .= '
';
    return $output;
}

/**
 * Register shortcode [recent_users]
 */
function wp_register_recent_users_shortcode( $atts ) {
    $atts = shortcode_atts( array( 'limit' => 5 ), $atts, 'recent_users' );
    return wp_get_recently_registered_users( $atts['limit'] );
}
add_shortcode( 'recent_users', 'wp_register_recent_users_shortcode' );

Key Improvements

• Security: Uses $wpdb->prepare() for SQL queries and escapes output with esc_url() and esc_html().
• Robustness: Validates the $limit parameter with absint().
• Maintainability: Clear function names and documentation.
• Flexibility: Shortcode accepts a limit attribute.

How to Use

1. Using the Shortcode

Insert in posts, pages, or text widgets:

[recent_users]

Or with custom limit:

[recent_users limit="8"]

2. Direct Function Call in Templates

In theme files like sidebar.php:

<?php echo wp_get_recently_registered_users( 5 ); ?>

Custom Styling

Add CSS to your theme's style.css:

.recently-registered-users {
    list-style: none;
    padding-left: 0;
}
.recently-registered-users li {
    display: flex;
    align-items: center;
    margin-bottom: 10px;
}
.recently-registered-users .avatar {
    border-radius: 50%;
    margin-right: 10px;
}

Now you can safely display recently registered users anywhere on your WordPress site.