February 12, 2011 
Definition:
function get_plugins($plugin_folder = '') {}
Check the plugins directory and retrieve all plugin files with plugin data.
WordPress only supports plugin files in the base plugins directory (wp-content/plugins) and in one directory above the plugins directory (wp-content/plugins/my-plugin). The file it looks for has the plugin data and must be found in those two locations. It is recommended that do keep your plugin files in directories.
Parameters
- string $plugin_folder: Optional. Relative path to single plugin folder.
Return values
returns:Key is the plugin file path and the value is an array of the plugin data.
Source code
function get_plugins($plugin_folder = '') {
if ( ! $cache_plugins = wp_cache_get('plugins', 'plugins') )
$cache_plugins = array();
if ( isset($cache_plugins[ $plugin_folder ]) )
return $cache_plugins[ $plugin_folder ];
$wp_plugins = array ();
$plugin_root = WP_PLUGIN_DIR;
if ( !empty($plugin_folder) )
$plugin_root .= $plugin_folder;
// Files in wp-content/plugins directory
$plugins_dir = @ opendir( $plugin_root);
$plugin_files = array();
if ( $plugins_dir ) {
while (($file = readdir( $plugins_dir ) ) !== false ) {
if ( substr($file, 0, 1) == '.' )
continue;
if ( is_dir( $plugin_root.'/'.$file ) ) {
$plugins_subdir = @ opendir( $plugin_root.'/'.$file );
if ( $plugins_subdir ) {
while (($subfile = readdir( $plugins_subdir ) ) !== false ) {
if ( substr($subfile, 0, 1) == '.' )
continue;
if ( substr($subfile, -4) == '.php' )
$plugin_files[] = "$file/$subfile";
}
closedir( $plugins_subdir );
}
} else {
if ( substr($file, -4) == '.php' )
$plugin_files[] = $file;
}
}
closedir( $plugins_dir );
}
if ( empty($plugin_files) )
return $wp_plugins;
foreach ( $plugin_files as $plugin_file ) {
if ( !is_readable( "$plugin_root/$plugin_file" ) )
continue;
$plugin_data = get_plugin_data( "$plugin_root/$plugin_file", false, false ); //Do not apply markup/translate as it'll be cached.
if ( empty ( $plugin_data['Name'] ) )
continue;
$wp_plugins[plugin_basename( $plugin_file )] = $plugin_data;
}
uasort( $wp_plugins, '_sort_uname_callback' );
$cache_plugins[ $plugin_folder ] = $wp_plugins;
wp_cache_set('plugins', $cache_plugins, 'plugins');
return $wp_plugins;
}
1556
A HitchHackers guide through WordPress 
Can I change plugin path in wordpress, any function.php code?
Can you describe this a little bit more detailed? What are you trying to achieve?
Hello, I can’t find the “plugins” page from my dashboard, why might this be and where can I find it? has wordpress got rid of this function perhaps? thank you
On WordPress.com you cannot install plugins, so if you miss the page here, that’s totally fine and you might want to have a look at this page for the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
If you’re running your own self-hosted WordPress.org blog you likely lack the permissions to install plugins and should contact your (WordPress)network administrator or make sure to login as administrator.