How to eliminate unwanted HTML tags in WordPress content?

Other Questions Wordpress
1

Hey everyone! I’m having a bit of trouble with my WordPress posts. Every time I add content to a post, I notice these pesky <p> and <br/> tags popping up. They’re causing extra spacing in my final output, which is messing up my layout.

I’ve tried a few things, but I can’t seem to get rid of them. Does anyone know a good way to strip out these HTML tags? I’m looking for a clean solution that won’t affect the actual content of my posts.

Here’s a quick example of what I’m dealing with:

<p>This is my post content.</p>
<br/>
<p>It has unwanted tags.</p>

Any tips or tricks would be super helpful! Thanks in advance!

2

hey there! i’ve dealt with this before. try using a plugin like TinyMCE Advanced or Classic Editor. they give u more control over the editor and can help reduce unwanted tags. alternatively, u could add a custom function to your theme’s functions.php to strip specific tags. good luck!

3

I’ve faced this issue too, and it can be frustrating. One approach that worked well for me was using a custom function in my theme’s functions.php file. Here’s what I did:

function clean_post_content($content) {
    $content = str_replace(['<p>', '</p>', '<br />', '<br>'], '', $content);
    $content = trim($content);
    return $content;
}
add_filter('the_content', 'clean_post_content');

This function strips out the <p> and <br> tags you mentioned. It’s been pretty effective for me, but keep in mind it’ll affect all your posts. If you need more granular control, you might want to look into using a page builder plugin or custom fields for specific content areas. That way, you can keep the default WordPress behavior where you need it and have cleaner output elsewhere.

4

I’ve encountered this issue as well. One effective solution I’ve found is to use the ‘autop_filter’ function. You can disable the automatic paragraph creation by adding this code to your theme’s functions.php file:

function disable_wpautop($content) {
remove_filter(‘the_content’, ‘wpautop’);
remove_filter(‘the_excerpt’, ‘wpautop’);
return $content;
}
add_filter(‘the_content’, ‘disable_wpautop’, 9);

This approach prevents WordPress from automatically adding

and
tags to your content. However, be aware that this might affect the formatting of your existing posts. You may need to manually add line breaks where needed after implementing this solution.

If you prefer a less invasive method, consider using a text editor plugin that offers more control over HTML output. Some of these plugins allow you to toggle the automatic paragraph feature on and off as needed.