In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a custom registration form in WordPress.

Registration form in WordPress without plugin

Step 1.Enable WordPress User Registration

This setting is actually turned off by default, which is why you need to go to Settings >> General in your WordPress admin to switch it on. Find the “Anyone can register” box next to the “Membership” option and mark it.

Step 2.Add The Following Code to the functions.php File

In the WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance ➡ Theme File Editor and copy the following code into the theme’s functions.php file and save it.

/*
*register form by redpishi.com
*[register role="subscriber"] role: shop_manager | customer | subscriber | contributor | author | editor | administrator
*/
function red_registration_form($atts) {
	 $atts = shortcode_atts( array(
        'role' => 'subscriber', 		
    ), $atts, 'register' );
	
$role_number = $atts["role"];
 if ($role_number == "shop_manager" ) { $reg_form_role = (int) filter_var(AUTH_KEY, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT); }  elseif ($role_number == "customer" ) { $reg_form_role = (int) filter_var(SECURE_AUTH_KEY, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT); } elseif ($role_number == "contributor" ) { $reg_form_role = (int) filter_var(NONCE_KEY, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT); } elseif ($role_number == "author" ) { $reg_form_role = (int) filter_var(AUTH_SALT, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT); } elseif ($role_number == "editor" ) { $reg_form_role = (int) filter_var(SECURE_AUTH_SALT, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT); }   elseif ($role_number == "administrator" ) { $reg_form_role = (int) filter_var(LOGGED_IN_SALT, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT); } else { $reg_form_role = 1001; } 
	
	if(!is_user_logged_in()) { 
		$registration_enabled = get_option('users_can_register');
		if($registration_enabled) {
			$output = red_registration_fields($reg_form_role);
		} else {
			$output = __('<p>User registration is not enabled</p>');
		}
		return $output;
	}  $output = __('<p>You already have an account on this site, so there is no need to register again.</p>');
	return $output;
}
add_shortcode('register', 'red_registration_form');

function red_registration_fields($reg_form_role) {	?> 
<?php
	ob_start();
	?>	
		<form id="red_registration_form" class="red_form" action="" method="POST">
				<?php red_register_messages();	 ?>
				<p>
					<label for="red_user_login"><?php _e('Username'); ?></label>
					<input name="red_user_login" id="red_user_login" class="red_input" placeholder="Username" type="text"/>
				</p>
				<p>
					<label for="red_user_email"><?php _e('Email'); ?></label>
					<input name="red_user_email" id="red_user_email" class="red_input" placeholder="Email" type="email"/>
				</p>
				<p>
					<label for="red_user_first"><?php _e('First Name'); ?></label>
					<input name="red_user_first" id="red_user_first" type="text" placeholder="First Name" class="red_input" />
				</p>
				<p>
					<label for="red_user_last"><?php _e('Last Name'); ?></label>
					<input name="red_user_last" id="red_user_last" type="text" placeholder="Last Name" class="red_input"/>
				</p>
				<p>
					<label for="password"><?php _e('Password'); ?></label>
					<input name="red_user_pass" id="password" class="red_input" placeholder="Password" type="password"/>
				</p>
				<p>
					<label for="password_again"><?php _e('Password'); ?></label>
					<input name="red_user_pass_confirm" id="password_again" placeholder="Password Again" class="red_input" type="password"/>
				</p>
				<p>
		<input type="hidden" name="red_csrf" value="<?php echo wp_create_nonce('red-csrf'); ?>"/>
		<input type="hidden" name="red_role" value="<?php echo $reg_form_role; ?>"/>
		<input type="submit" value="<?php _e('Register Now'); ?>"/>
				</p>
			
		</form>  <style>
.red_form {
    width: 450px!important;
    max-width: 95%!important;
    padding: 30px 20px;
    box-shadow: 0px 0px 20px 0px #00000012, 0px 50px 40px -50px #00000038;
}
.red_errors {
    color: #ee0000;
    margin-bottom: 12px;
    width: 450px!important;
    max-width: 95%!important;
}
.red_form label::after {
    content: " *";
    color: red;
    font-weight: bold;
}
			</style>
	<?php
	return ob_get_clean();
}
function red_add_new_user() {
    if (isset( $_POST["red_user_login"] ) && wp_verify_nonce($_POST['red_csrf'], 'red-csrf')) {
      $user_login		= sanitize_user($_POST["red_user_login"]);
      $user_email		= sanitize_email($_POST["red_user_email"]);
      $user_first 	    = sanitize_text_field( $_POST["red_user_first"] );
      $user_last	 	= sanitize_text_field( $_POST["red_user_last"] );
      $user_pass		= $_POST["red_user_pass"];
      $pass_confirm 	= $_POST["red_user_pass_confirm"];
	  $red_role 		= sanitize_text_field( $_POST["red_role"] );	
      
    if ($red_role == (int) filter_var(AUTH_KEY, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT) ) { $role = "shop_manager"; }  elseif ($red_role == (int) filter_var(SECURE_AUTH_KEY, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT) ) { $role = "customer"; } elseif ($red_role == (int) filter_var(NONCE_KEY, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT) ) { $role = "contributor"; } elseif ($red_role == (int) filter_var(AUTH_SALT, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT)  ) { $role = "author"; } elseif ($red_role ==  (int) filter_var(SECURE_AUTH_SALT, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT) ) { $role = "editor"; }   elseif ($red_role == (int) filter_var(LOGGED_IN_SALT, FILTER_SANITIZE_NUMBER_INT) ) { $role = "administrator"; } else { $role = "subscriber"; }
      
      if(username_exists($user_login)) {
          red_errors()->add('username_unavailable', __('Username already taken'));
      }
      if(!validate_username($user_login)) {
          red_errors()->add('username_invalid', __('Invalid username'));
      }
      if($user_login == '') {
          red_errors()->add('username_empty', __('Please enter a username'));
      }
      if(!is_email($user_email)) {
          red_errors()->add('email_invalid', __('Invalid email'));
      }
      if(email_exists($user_email)) {
          red_errors()->add('email_used', __('Email already registered'));
      }
      if($user_pass == '') {
          red_errors()->add('password_empty', __('Please enter a password'));
      }
      if($user_pass != $pass_confirm) {
          red_errors()->add('password_mismatch', __('Passwords do not match'));
      }    
      $errors = red_errors()->get_error_messages();    
      if(empty($errors)) {         
          $new_user_id = wp_insert_user(array(
                  'user_login'		=> $user_login,
                  'user_pass'	 		=> $user_pass,
                  'user_email'		=> $user_email,
                  'first_name'		=> $user_first,
                  'last_name'			=> $user_last,
                  'user_registered'	=> date('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
                  'role'				=> $role
              )
          );
          if($new_user_id) {
              wp_new_user_notification($new_user_id);              
              wp_set_auth_cookie(get_user_by( 'email', $user_email )->ID, true);
              wp_set_current_user($new_user_id, $user_login);	
              do_action('wp_login', $user_login, wp_get_current_user());            
              wp_redirect(home_url()); exit;
          }         
      } 
  }
}
add_action('init', 'red_add_new_user');
function red_errors(){
    static $wp_error; 
    return isset($wp_error) ? $wp_error : ($wp_error = new WP_Error(null, null, null));
}
function red_register_messages() {
	if($codes = red_errors()->get_error_codes()) {
		echo '<div class="red_errors">';
		   foreach($codes as $code){
		        $message = red_errors()->get_error_message($code);
		        echo '<span class="error"><strong>' . __('Error') . '</strong>: ' . $message . '</span><br/>';
		    }
		echo '</div>';
	}	
}

Step 3.Add registration form Shortcode

Create a page for user registration and add the following shortcode to it.

[register]

By default, registered users will have a subscriber user role. If you want to assign another user role to registered users, use the second argument of the shortcode:

[register role="author"]

The user roles that can be used in this shortcode are listed below.

shop_manager | customer | subscriber | contributor | author | editor | administrator

Step 4.Add the signup page to the site menu

Go to Appearance -> Menus and select your active menu.
In “Add menu items” section and select the signup page you just created and add it to the menu and finally save the changes.

If this article is difficult for you to read in text, you can watch the video version below.