If user is logged in not working

Question

So I am trying to check if a user is logged in with the default WP function but it doesn't seem to work. Oddly, it works fine for people logged in (it echoes as it should) but it echoes nothing for people who aren't logged in. Anyone seen this behaviour?

if ( is_user_logged_in() ) {
    echo 'logged in';
} else {
    echo 'not logged in';   
}

This is put in the functions.php file

Answer 1

Depends on a few things... just using that code probably won't work if it doesn't know where to echo it. For example the below will output at the start of the loop on the frontend of the site, assuming your theme is using the loop...

add_action( 'loop_start', 'message_when_logged_in' );
function message_when_logged_in() {
    if ( is_user_logged_in() ) {
        echo 'logged in';
    } else {
        echo 'not logged in';   
    }
}

If that doesn't work try this since most all themes use wp_footer()

add_action( 'wp_footer', 'message_when_logged_in' );
function message_when_logged_in() {
    if ( is_user_logged_in() ) {
        echo 'logged in';
    } else {
        echo 'not logged in';   
    }
}