wp_list_categories with category description

by

Extend the Walker_Category class

We can extend the Walker_Category class to append the category description to each item.

Here’s a demo example with an anonymous class (PHP 7+):

$args = [
  'walker' => new class extends Walker_Category 
    {
      public function start_el( &$output, $category, $depth = 0, $args = array(), $id = 0 )
      {
        // Let's use the output from the parent's start_el method
        $output .= parent::start_el( $output, $category, $depth, $args, $id );

        // Append the category description:
        $desc = $category->description;
        $output .= ( $desc ) ? sprintf( '<span>%s</span>', esc_html( $desc ) ) : '';
      }
    }
];

wp_list_categories( $args );

For older PHP versions, we can just define the class as usual with a custom name.

Here’s a single item output example:

Item before:

<li class="cat-item cat-item-269">
    <a href="http://example.tld/category/green/" 
       title="Description for the Green category">Green</a>
</li>

Item after:

<li class="cat-item cat-item-269">
    <a href="http://example.tld/category/blue/" 
       title="Description for Green category">Green</a>
    <span>Description for the Green category</span>
</li>