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!

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
 * @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