Title: wp_register_fatal_error_handler
Published: May 7, 2019
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# wp_register_fatal_error_handler()

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_register_fatal_error_handler/?output_format=md#description)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_register_fatal_error_handler/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_register_fatal_error_handler/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_register_fatal_error_handler/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_register_fatal_error_handler/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Registers the shutdown handler for fatal errors.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_register_fatal_error_handler/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

The handler will only be registered if [wp_is_fatal_error_handler_enabled()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_is_fatal_error_handler_enabled/)
returns true.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_register_fatal_error_handler/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    function wp_register_fatal_error_handler() {
    	if ( ! wp_is_fatal_error_handler_enabled() ) {
    		return;
    	}

    	$handler = null;
    	if ( defined( 'WP_CONTENT_DIR' ) && is_readable( WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/fatal-error-handler.php' ) ) {
    		$handler = include WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/fatal-error-handler.php';
    	}

    	if ( ! is_object( $handler ) || ! is_callable( array( $handler, 'handle' ) ) ) {
    		$handler = new WP_Fatal_Error_Handler();
    	}

    	register_shutdown_function( array( $handler, 'handle' ) );
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/error-protection.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/error-protection.php#L81)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/error-protection.php#L81-L96)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_register_fatal_error_handler/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [wp_is_fatal_error_handler_enabled()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_is_fatal_error_handler_enabled/)`wp-includes/error-protection.php` |

Checks whether the fatal error handler is enabled.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_register_fatal_error_handler/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [5.2.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/5.2.0/) | Introduced. |

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