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        businessbloomer.com/woocommerce-customization
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli, Business Bloomer
 * @testedwith    WooCommerce 6
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */
 
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 custom code?

You should place custom PHP in functions.php and custom CSS in style.css of your child theme: where to place WooCommerce customization?

This code still works, unless you report otherwise. To exclude conflicts, temporarily switch to the Storefront theme, disable all plugins except WooCommerce, and test the snippet again: WooCommerce troubleshooting 101

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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. Follow @rmelogli

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

Denny
April 14, 2022

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.

Reply
1. Rodolfo Melogli
  April 22, 2022
  
  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!
  
  Reply
kerem
March 14, 2022

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

Reply
1. Rodolfo Melogli
  March 25, 2022
  
  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!
  
  Reply
Lyse Tremblay
February 3, 2022

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

Reply
1. Rodolfo Melogli
  February 15, 2022
  Hi Lyse! Simply change
  
  $sku = '';
  
  to
  
  $sku = $product->get_sku();
  
  Let me know
  Reply
  1. Lyse
    February 15, 2022
    
    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
    
    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli
      March 6, 2022
      
      Oops sorry, my bad! Simply delete that whole
      
      $sku = '';
      
      line
      
      Reply

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