Sometimes you want to install a new theme or upgrade a plugin and then you might be wondering – what wordpress version is my website actually running on? When did I update the last time? Is the theme / the plugin compatible to the version I use?

You may also need your WordPress version when you are about to post a support request or want to implement a custom function / a custom functionality yourself.So knowing where to actually find the version can came in handy every now and then.

Check your WordPress Version in the Administration Dashboard

The easiest way to check the WordPress version of a WordPress powered website is when you login to your administration interface. The newer versions print out the version number in the bottom right corner – for example “ Version 4.4.1″.

Check your WordPress Version online from the readme.html file

You can of course also find out the WordPress version without beeing logged in. A standard wordpress installation will put a file readme.html in the root folder of your WordPress directory. This file is also updated automatically with every update you run. You can then easily open that file in your browser and check the version from there: mydoman/readme.html

Check your WordPress Version online: readme.html

One should however at least mention, that some experts think that keeping the readme.html file online is a potential security risk. Hackers could take advantage of the information provided through that file – so in some forums it is actually recommended that you should delete the readme file after a successful instalation or update.

I won’t stress too much about it for two reasons: First of all, you should always keep your WordPress website up to date – and take measures to make it difficult to actually hack your site. And on the other hand most of the attacks are probably automated attacks anyways. I don’t think that any hacker would actually take the time to check the readme file.

Check your WordPress Version with a line of PHP / a WordPress-Function

WordPress has a secific function that can provide additional information about your current installation: get_bloginfo(). This is probaly mostly intersting for theme developers and other coders, but can also come handy for designers. You could for example use this function to dynamically check the compatibility of a theme or a plugin against the current version.

Besically the function looks like this:

 <?php $bloginfo = get_bloginfo( $show, $filter ); ?> 

The parameter $show determines as what details should actually be shown – and with $filter  you can determine, how it should be shown.  es angezeigt werden soll. For a simple version check the following code snippet should work just fine:

<?php 
    $wordpress_version = get_bloginfo('version'); 
    echo("Wordpress Version: ".$wordpress_version);
?> 

So if you implement this function for example inside a temple, you will find your WordPress Version printed in that template.

Feel free to find out more about get_bloginfo(); in the WordPress Codex:
https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_bloginfo