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---
title: Creating and using custom tokens in Drupal 7
date: 2013-02-16
excerpt:
This post outlines the steps required to create your own custom tokens in
Drupal.
tags:
- drupal
- drupal-planet
- drupal-7
- tokens
---
This post outlines the steps required to create your own custom tokens in
Drupal.
When writing the recent releases of the
[Copyright Block](http://drupal.org/project/copyright_block) module, I used
tokens to allow the user to edit and customise their copyright message and place
the copyright_message:dates token in the desired position. When the block is
rendered, the token is replaced by the necessary dates.
We will be using the fictional _foo_ module to demonstrate this.
## Requirements
- [Token module](http://drupal.org/project/token)
## Recommended
- [Devel module](http://drupal.org/project/devel) - useful to run `dpm()` and
`kpr()` functions
- [Copyright Block module](http://drupal.org/project/copyright_block) - 7.x-2.x
and 6.x-1.x use tokens, handy as a reference
## Implementing hook_token_info()
The first thing that we need to do is define the new token type and/or the token
itself, along with it's descriptive text. To view the existing tokens and types,
use `dpm(token_get_info());`, assuming that you have the
[Devel module](http://drupal.org/project/devel) installed.
```language-php
/**
* Implements hook_token_info().
*/
function foo_token_info() {
$info = array();
// Add any new tokens.
$info['tokens']['foo']['bar'] = t('This is my new bar token within the foo type.');
// Return them.
return $info;
}
```
In this case, the token called _bar_ resides within the _foo_ group.
If I needed to add a new token within an existing token type, such as 'node',
the syntax would be `$info['tokens']['node']['bar']`.
## Implementing hook_tokens()
Now that the Token module is aware of our new token, we now need to determine
what the token is replaced with. This is done using `hook_tokens()`. Here is the
basic code needed for an implementation:
```language-php
/**
* Implements hook_tokens().
*/
function foo_tokens($type, $tokens, array $data = array(), array $options = array()) {
$replacements = array();
// Code goes here...
// Return the replacements.
return $replacements;
}
```
The first thing to check for is the type of token using an `if()` function, as
this could be an existing type like 'node', 'user' or 'site', or a custom token
type like 'foo'. Once we're sure that we're looking at the right type(s), we can
use `foreach ($tokens as $name => $original)` to loop through each of the
available tokens using a `switch()`. For each token, you can perform some logic
to work out the replacement text and then add it into the replacements array
using `$replacements[$original] = $new;`.
```language-php
/**
* Implements hook_tokens().
*/
function foo_tokens($type, $tokens, array $data = array(), array $options = array()) {
$replacements = array();
// The first thing that we're going to check for is the type of token - node,
// user etc...
if ($type == 'foo') {
// Loop through each of the available tokens.
foreach ($tokens as $name => $original) {
// Find the desired token by name
switch ($name) {
case 'bar':
$new = '';
// Work out the value of $new...
// Add the new value into the replacements array.
$replacements[$original] = $new;
break;
}
}
}
// Return the replacements.
return $replacements;
}
```
## Example
An example from Copyright Block module:
```language-php
/**
* Implements hook_tokens().
*/
function copyright_block_tokens($type, $tokens, array $data = array(), array $options = array()) {
$replacements = array();
if ($type == 'copyright_statement') {
foreach ($tokens as $name => $original) {
switch ($name) {
case 'dates':
$start_year = variable_get('copyright_block_start_year', date('Y'));
$current_year = date('Y');
$replacements[$original] = $start_year < $current_year ? $start_year . '-' . $current_year : $start_year;
break;
}
}
}
return $replacements;
}
```
## Using token_replace()
With everything defined, all that we now need to do is pass some text through
the `token_replace()` function to replace it with the values defined within
`hook_token()`.
```language-php
$a = t('Something');
// This would use any token type - node, user etc.
$b = token_replace($a);
// This would only use foo tokens.
$c = token_replace($a, array('foo'));
```