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Remove the Category Prefix From Archive Titles

2 min read Updated Sep 2026 General WordPress

To remove the word Category from the title of a category page, add one line of code that clears the archive title prefix. The code works in Polestar, Ultra, the Puro theme and any other theme. It needs WordPress 5.5 or later.

Remove the Prefix From Every Archive

This line removes Category:, Tag:, Author: and the date prefixes. A category page then shows only the category name.

add_filter( 'get_the_archive_title_prefix', '__return_empty_string' );

Remove Only the Category Prefix

This code clears the prefix on category pages. Tag and author pages keep theirs.

function puro_child_category_prefix( $prefix ) {
	return is_category() ? '' : $prefix;
}
add_filter( 'get_the_archive_title_prefix', 'puro_child_category_prefix' );

Where to Add the Code

  1. Add the code to the functions.php file of a child theme. You can also run it with the Code Snippets plugin. Leave out the opening PHP tag.
  2. Open a category page on your site and check the title.
  3. Clear your page cache if the old title still shows.
CSS cannot hide the prefix. WordPress prints it as plain text next to the title, with no element around it.

Hide the Whole Title Instead

In Ultra, turn off Page Title for category pages in AppearanceCustomizePage Template Settings. Browse to a category page in the preview first. See Page Template Settings.

Change Category in the URL

The code above changes only the title. To change the word category in the URL, go to SettingsPermalinks and set Category base in the Optional section. See Permalinks.

Remove the Prefix in Any Theme

The get_the_archive_title_prefix filter is part of WordPress core since version 5.5. The code above works in any theme that prints its title with the_archive_title() or get_the_archive_title(). A theme that prints its own text for the title ignores the filter.

In a block theme, select the Query Title block in the archive template. Turn off Show archive type in title in the block settings. That option needs no code.

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