# LearnDash: Student Count Shortcode for Course Pages

> Adds a [wpide_ld_students] shortcode that shows social proof such as "1,240 students enrolled" on a course page, cached so it stays fast.

- Type: PHP
- Runs: Run everywhere
- Category: [Courses & Community](https://wpide.com/library/category/learning/)
- Tags: learndash, shortcode, social-proof
- Author: WPIDE Team
- Installs: 0
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Page: https://wpide.com/library/learndash-student-count-shortcode/

## Code

```php
if ( ! defined( 'LEARNDASH_VERSION' ) ) {
    return;
}

add_shortcode( 'wpide_ld_students', function ( $atts ) {
    $atts      = shortcode_atts( array( 'course_id' => 0, 'min' => 0, 'text' => '%s students enrolled' ), $atts, 'wpide_ld_students' );
    $course_id = $atts['course_id'] ? absint( $atts['course_id'] ) : (int) learndash_get_course_id( get_the_ID() );

    if ( ! $course_id ) {
        return '';
    }

    $key   = 'wpide_ld_count_' . $course_id;
    $count = get_transient( $key );

    if ( false === $count ) {
        $query = new WP_User_Query( array( 'fields' => 'ID', 'number' => 1, 'count_total' => true, 'meta_key' => 'course_' . $course_id . '_access_from', 'meta_compare' => 'EXISTS' ) );
        $count = (int) $query->get_total();
        set_transient( $key, $count, 12 * HOUR_IN_SECONDS );
    }

    if ( $count < (int) $atts['min'] ) {
        return '';
    }

    return '<span class="wpide-ld-students">' . esc_html( sprintf( $atts['text'], number_format_i18n( $count ) ) ) . '</span>';
} );
```

## Notes

Use course_id="123" outside a course and min="50" to hide the count until it is worth showing. Counts direct enrollments and refresh every 12 hours.

## How to use it

Install the free WPIDE plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpide/), find "LearnDash: Student Count Shortcode for Course Pages" 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/