# Searchable Options Viewer Under Tools

> Adds a Tools > Options Viewer screen where administrators can search the options table by name and see each value decoded and pretty-printed, including serialized arrays that Settings > All hides.

- Type: PHP
- Runs: Admin only
- Category: [Developer](https://wpide.com/library/category/developer/)
- Tags: options, debugging, database
- Author: WPIDE Team
- Installs: 0
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Page: https://wpide.com/library/debug-options-viewer/

## Code

```php
add_action( 'admin_menu', function () {
    add_management_page( 'Options Viewer', 'Options Viewer', 'manage_options', 'wpide-options-viewer', function () {
        global $wpdb;

        $search = isset( $_GET['wpide_option_search'] ) ? sanitize_text_field( wp_unslash( $_GET['wpide_option_search'] ) ) : '';

        echo '<div class="wrap"><h1>Options Viewer</h1><form method="get"><input type="hidden" name="page" value="wpide-options-viewer">';
        printf( '<label class="screen-reader-text" for="wpide-option-search">Option name</label><input type="search" id="wpide-option-search" name="wpide_option_search" value="%s" class="regular-text" placeholder="Option name contains..."> ', esc_attr( $search ) );
        submit_button( 'Search', 'secondary', '', false );
        echo '</form>';

        if ( strlen( $search ) < 3 ) {
            echo '<p>Type at least three characters of an option name.</p></div>';
            return;
        }

        $rows = $wpdb->get_results( $wpdb->prepare(
            "SELECT option_name, option_value, autoload FROM {$wpdb->options} WHERE option_name LIKE %s ORDER BY option_name LIMIT 100",
            '%' . $wpdb->esc_like( $search ) . '%'
        ) );

        $mask = function ( $value ) use ( &$mask ) {
            if ( is_array( $value ) || is_object( $value ) ) {
                $out = array();
                foreach ( (array) $value as $k => $v ) {
                    $out[ $k ] = preg_match( '/key|token|secret|pass|salt|auth/i', (string) $k ) ? '(hidden)' : $mask( $v );
                }
                return $out;
            }
            return $value;
        };

        echo '<table class="widefat striped" style="table-layout:fixed"><thead><tr><th style="width:28%">Name</th><th style="width:80px">Autoload</th><th>Value</th></tr></thead><tbody>';
        foreach ( $rows as $row ) {
            $value = maybe_unserialize( $row->option_value );
            $shown = preg_match( '/key|token|secret|pass|salt|auth/i', $row->option_name ) ? '(hidden)' : print_r( $mask( $value ), true );
            printf(
                '<tr><td><code>%s</code></td><td>%s</td><td><pre style="white-space:pre-wrap;word-break:break-all;margin:0;max-height:300px;overflow:auto">%s</pre></td></tr>',
                esc_html( $row->option_name ),
                esc_html( $row->autoload ),
                esc_html( mb_strimwidth( (string) $shown, 0, 5000, '...' ) )
            );
        }
        echo '</tbody></table></div>';
    } );
} );
```

## Notes

Read-only; values that look like keys, tokens or passwords are masked.

## How to use it

Install the free WPIDE plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpide/), find "Searchable Options Viewer Under Tools" in its snippet library and add it in one click; or create a new PHP snippet in WPIDE (or any code snippets plugin) and paste the code above. More snippets: https://wpide.com/library/