Can't Change Theme And White Screen When Activating Any Plugin

Question

I ran into an issue. When I am trying to activate a plugin, any plugin, I am getting a white screen. I tried to change theme and it just won't let me.

I then went to wp-config.php and turned on debugging and these are the errors I am getting when trying to change theme:

Notice: yith_wcwl_products cookie cannot be set - headers already sent by /home1/website/public_html/wp-content/themes/flatsome-child/functions.php on line 1 in /home1/website/public_html/wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/includes/wc-core-functions.php on line 835

Notice: Constant WP_CRON_LOCK_TIMEOUT already defined in /home1/website/public_html/wp-config.php on line 91

Notice: Constant AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL already defined in /home1/website/public_html/wp-config.php on line 92

Notice: Constant WP_POST_REVISIONS already defined in /home1/website/public_html/wp-config.php on line 93

Notice: Constant EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS already defined in /home1/website/public_html/wp-config.php on line 94

Warning: session_start(): Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at /home1/website/public_html/wp-content/themes/flatsome-child/functions.php:1) in /home1/website/public_html/wp-content/plugins/flexible-shipping/classes/flexible-shipping-plugin.php on line 169

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home1/website/public_html/wp-content/themes/flatsome-child/functions.php:1) in /home1/website/public_html/wp-admin/includes/misc.php on line 1124

These are the errors when trying the activate a plugin:

Notice: yith_wcwl_products cookie cannot be set - headers already sent by /home1/website/public_html/wp-content/themes/flatsome-child/functions.php on line 1 in /home1/website/public_html/wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/includes/wc-core-functions.php on line 835

Notice: Constant WP_CRON_LOCK_TIMEOUT already defined in /home1/website/public_html/wp-config.php on line 91

Notice: Constant AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL already defined in /home1/website/public_html/wp-config.php on line 92

Notice: Constant WP_POST_REVISIONS already defined in /home1/website/public_html/wp-config.php on line 93

Notice: Constant EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS already defined in /home1/website/public_html/wp-config.php on line 94

Warning: session_start(): Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at /home1/website/public_html/wp-content/themes/flatsome-child/functions.php:1) in /home1/website/public_html/wp-content/plugins/flexible-shipping/classes/flexible-shipping-plugin.php on line 169

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home1/website/public_html/wp-content/themes/flatsome-child/functions.php:1) in /home1/website/public_html/wp-admin/includes/misc.php on line 1124

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home1/website/public_html/wp-content/themes/flatsome-child/functions.php:1) in /home1/website/public_html/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 1219

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home1/website/public_html/wp-content/themes/flatsome-child/functions.php:1) in /home1/website/public_html/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 1219

My flatsome-child/function.php file is empty.

I am assuming there errors creates more problems throughout the website.

How can I fix this?

Thanks.

Answer 1

As described in this SO answer - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8028957/how-to-fix-headers-already-sent-error-in-php whitespace before the opening <?php tag of a file can cause a "headers already sent error".

In particular, if the error message is indicating the problem is on line one of the file, this can point to leading whitespace before the first <?php tag (mentioned in point 3 of the above post).

Removing this whitespace from the file should correct the problem.