WooCommerce: Display Variations’ SKU @ Product Admin

I find it quite annoying that variable products display an empty SKU cell in the WordPress > Products admin page even if their variations may have one available.

Today, we go fix that. With this simple snippet, your variable products will display the SKU of each variation, and if there is none, empty brackets (so, it’s easy to identify if any variation is missing its SKU).

So, let’s see how it’s done. Enjoy!

With the snippet below, you can display the list of children SKUs for variable products

PHP Snippet: Show Each Variation SKU @ WordPress Dashboard > Products Table

/**
 * @snippet       Display Variation SKUs @ WooCommerce Product Admin
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli
 * @testedwith    WooCommerce 6
 * @donate $9     https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/
 */
 
add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_get_sku', 'bbloomer_variable_product_skus_admin', 9999, 2 );

function bbloomer_variable_product_skus_admin( $sku, $product ) {
   if ( ! is_admin() ) return $sku;
	global $post_type, $pagenow;
	if ( 'edit.php' === $pagenow && 'product' === $post_type ) {
		if ( $product->is_type('variable') ) {
			$sku = '';
			foreach ( $product->get_children() as $child_id ) {
				$variation = wc_get_product( $child_id ); 
				if ( $variation && $variation->exists() ) $sku .= '(' . $variation->get_sku() . ') ';
			}
		}
	}
   return $sku;
}

Where to add this snippet?

You can place PHP snippets at the bottom of your child theme functions.php file (delete "?>" if you have it there). CSS, on the other hand, goes in your child theme style.css file. Make sure you know what you are doing when editing such files - if you need more guidance, please take a look at my free video tutorial "Where to Place WooCommerce Customization?"

Does this snippet (still) work?

Please let me know in the comments if everything worked as expected. I would be happy to revise the snippet if you report otherwise (please provide screenshots). I have tested this code with Storefront theme, the WooCommerce version listed above and a WordPress-friendly hosting on PHP 7.3.

If you think this code saved you time & money, feel free to join 14,000+ WooCommerce Weekly subscribers for blog post updates or 250+ Business Bloomer supporters for 365 days of WooCommerce benefits. Thank you in advance :)

Need Help with WooCommerce?

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Rodolfo Melogli

Business Bloomer Founder

Author, WooCommerce expert and WordCamp speaker, Rodolfo has worked as an independent WooCommerce freelancer since 2011. His goal is to help entrepreneurs and developers overcome their WooCommerce nightmares. Rodolfo loves travelling, chasing tennis & soccer balls and, of course, wood fired oven pizza.

8 thoughts on “WooCommerce: Display Variations’ SKU @ Product Admin

  1. How can I do this for the front end / product page? I want to display all EAN’s from variable products on the single product page.

    1. Hi Denny, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

  2. it works awesome, is there a way to show stock quantities too ?

    1. Hey Kerem, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is definitely possible, but I’m afraid it’s custom work. If you’d like to get a quote, feel free to contact me here. Thanks a lot for your understanding!

  3. Hi
    This is very helpful, however I also use a SKU for the PARENT level of the product. By adding this snippet, I loose the parent SKU.
    Is there a way to display both? The PARENT SKU could be displayed without the brackets and in bold say.
    Thanks
    Lyse

    1. Hi Lyse! Simply change

      $sku = '';

      to

      $sku = $product->get_sku();

      Let me know

      1. Hi Rodolfo
        When I replace that line of code in the snippet I get an error:
        502
        The page request was canceled because it took too long to complete
        Any idea?
        Thanks
        Lyse

        1. Oops sorry, my bad! Simply delete that whole

          $sku = '';

          line

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