Each code block has its own highlighting settings, available in the Syntax Highlighting panel of the Inspector Controls sidebar. These override the global defaults set on the Code Block Highlighting settings page.
Language
A dropdown listing 40+ supported languages. Selecting a language applies the correct Prism grammar (or highlight.php language in server-side mode). Choosing Plain Text renders the code with the active theme’s styling but no syntax highlighting.
The wzcbh_languagesOpens in a new window filter can be used to add or remove entries from the dropdown. Adding a language to the filter only affects the UI dropdown; the corresponding Prism.js grammar must also be available in frontend.js for the language to highlight correctly in client-side mode.
Line Numbers
Toggle to show or hide line numbers on this block. When enabled, a Start Line field appears. Set this to any integer to begin numbering from that value — useful when showing a code excerpt that starts partway through a file.
File Name or Title
A text field for an optional filename or label (e.g. config.yml). When Show File Name is enabled in global settings, the value is displayed above the block.
File Name Style in the global settings controls how it is displayed:
- Tab above the code block (default) — an editor-style tab sits flush on top of the block, colored to match the active theme’s own background and foreground. Rendered by PHP, so it looks the same in client-side and server-side modes.
- Toolbar label — the value appears as a label in the hover toolbar, alongside the language label and copy button.
If Show File Name is disabled globally, the field is still saved but not displayed.
Code blocks saved by the older Code Syntax Block plugin stored the filename in a title attribute on the <pre> element. These are read and displayed without needing the post to be re-saved.
Highlight Lines
Enter a comma-separated list of line numbers or ranges (e.g. 1,3-5,8) to visually highlight those lines. This maps to the Prism data-line attribute. Available in client-side mode only; has no effect in server-side mode.
Max Height
Set a maximum visible height in pixels. When the code block content exceeds this height, an Expand button appears in the toolbar; clicking it reveals the full block. Set to 0 (the default) to disable this limit. The height limit is applied as inline CSS and is not affected by the highlighting mode.
Word Wrap
Toggle soft word wrapping for long lines. When disabled (the default), long lines scroll horizontally.
Download Button
A dropdown that overrides the global Download Snippet setting for this block:
- Use global setting (default) — follow whatever the settings page says.
- Show — always show the Download button on this block, even when the global setting is off.
- Hide — never show it on this block, even when the global setting is on.
The downloaded file is named after File name or title when one is set; otherwise it is snippet.{ext}, with the extension derived from the block’s language. The button works identically in client-side and server-side modes, and the line-numbers gutter is excluded from the saved file.
Save as Default
After configuring the controls above, click Save as default at the bottom of the Syntax Highlighting panel to copy the current block’s settings (language, line numbers, line numbers start, word wrap, max height) into the global default-lang setting and the equivalent global defaults. Future code blocks inserted via the editor will inherit these values.
The button calls the POST /wzcbh/v1/default-settings REST endpoint under the wzcbh/v1 namespace. Only users with the manage_options capability can call it. See the Developer Reference for the full route schema.

