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I tried searching and going crazy looking for this, where did the ability to edit a plugin go in WordPress? I am using WordPress 4.7.2, logged in as an administrator and I can't find where to edit a plugin!

Previously I could go to Plugins and click Edit next to the plugin I wanted to change OR I could select Plugins and open Editor. Neither option is there for me anymore?

I used this occasionally when on the road and not in front of an FTP client to make small tweaks.

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Thank you

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    Is this a multisite installation? If so, then the editor is in My Sites > Network Admin > (Plugins | Themes) > Editor. If not, then the only reason I can think of is that something (plugin or theme) has hooked into the user_has_cap filter and removed the edit_plugin cap for the administrator account.
    – Paul 'Sparrow Hawk' Biron
    Commented Feb 25, 2017 at 16:17
  • @Paul'SparrowHawk'Biron I am using the default theme on single site
    – AAA
    Commented Feb 25, 2017 at 16:20
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    then try deactivating plugins, on at a time, and see if the editor comes back. When/if it does, you'll know which plugin has removed the cap. If that doesn't identify the problem, then I'm at a loss.
    – Paul 'Sparrow Hawk' Biron
    Commented Feb 25, 2017 at 16:28
  • Thank you @Paul'SparrowHawk'Biron that was it! The plugin causing this issue was: iThemes Security (coincidently, I have had other issues where the plugin took up 60gb of repetitive backups recently even though it was set NOT to). Do you want to submit as an answer and I will mark as the solution?
    – AAA
    Commented Feb 25, 2017 at 18:03

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I suspect some plugin is hooking into the user_has_cap filter and removing the edit_plugin cap for the administrator account.

To find out if this is the case, try deactivating plugins, one at a time, and see if the editor comes back. When/if it does, you'll know which plugin has removed the cap.

Edit:

What you do once you find the plugin in question is a different matter. If the plugin is vital to the functioning of your site, then see if it has a setting where you can tell it not to remove the edit_{plugin,theme} capability.

If it doesn't, then do NOT edit the source of the plugin to fix the problem (because your edit will get lost when/if that plugin's author updates it). Instead, you can simply hook into user_has_cap yourself (in a plugin or theme you control) and add the cap back in. If you do this, make sure you are hooking in with a higher priority than the plugin in question is using, e.g., add_filter ('user_has_cap', 'your_func', 99999, 4) ;. See user_has_cap and add_filter() for more info on how to do this.

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