Understanding String Output in Dynamic Shortcodes

When working with Dynamic Shortcodes, handling string outputs correctly is crucial to ensure proper functionality.
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Dynamic Shortcodes provide three different ways to define strings: '' (single quotes), "" (double quotes), and [] (square brackets). Each of these has a distinct purpose and behaves differently when processing shortcodes.

Single quotes are used to define literal strings. When a string is enclosed in single quotes, it is treated as plain text, meaning that any shortcodes inside it will not be expanded. Unlike double quotes, single quotes do not allow escape sequences like \n, but they allow double quotes (") inside without needing to escape them.
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Output:

In this case, {user:display_name} remains unchanged because it is inside a single-quoted string.
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Double quotes also define literal strings, similar to single quotes. They do not expand shortcodes inside them. However, the key difference between '' and "" is that double quotes allow escaping special characters like \n for a new line, and you can include a single quote (') without needing to escape it.

Output:

As with single quotes, {user:display_name} is not processed as a shortcode but remains as plain text.

Square brackets are used when you need to include shortcodes within a string and ensure they are expanded correctly.

Output (assuming the user name is John):

Here, {user:display_name} is dynamically processed and replaced with the actual user’s name.

If you place a shortcode inside '' or "", it will be treated as plain text rather than being evaluated. If you need shortcodes inside a string to be processed, always use [].

Output:

Output (assuming the post title is "Dynamic Shortcodes Guide"):

For security reasons, Dynamic Shortcodes sometimes escape certain characters. Specifically, { may be translated into the HTML entity ({).

Most of the time, users won’t notice this because HTML entities are correctly rendered in standard contexts. However, in some cases—such as raw text output or certain rendering environments—HTML entities may not be processed correctly, and users might see { literally instead of {.

Always use [] when you need a string that contains shortcodes to be processed dynamically.