Add Description to WordPress menu links - wordpress

Question

This is the code I added to my functions.php file. It allows me to add a Description to my menu links. But how do I get the span outside the a-tag, not enclosed in it?
// DESCRIPTIONS IN NAV MENU
function nav_menu_description( $item_output, $item, $depth, $args ) {
if ( !empty( $item->description ) ) {
$item_output = str_replace( $args->link_after . '</a>', '<span class="menu-item-description">' . $item->description . '</span>' . $args->link_after . '</a>', $item_output );
}
return $item_output;
}
add_filter( 'walker_nav_menu_start_el', 'nav_menu_description', 10, 4 );
?>

Answer 1

Walker class extends the existing class in WordPress. It basically just adds a line of code to display menu item descriptions. Add this code in your theme’s functions.php file.
class Menu_With_Description extends Walker_Nav_Menu {
function start_el(&$output, $item, $depth, $args) {
global $wp_query;
$indent = ( $depth ) ? str_repeat( "\t", $depth ) : '';
$class_names = $value = '';
$classes = empty( $item->classes ) ? array() : (array) $item->classes;
$class_names = join( ' ', apply_filters( 'nav_menu_css_class', array_filter( $classes ), $item ) );
$class_names = ' class="' . esc_attr( $class_names ) . '"';
$output .= $indent . '<li id="menu-item-'. $item->ID . '"' . $value . $class_names .'>';
$attributes = ! empty( $item->attr_title ) ? ' title="' . esc_attr( $item->attr_title ) .'"' : '';
$attributes .= ! empty( $item->target ) ? ' target="' . esc_attr( $item->target ) .'"' : '';
$attributes .= ! empty( $item->xfn ) ? ' rel="' . esc_attr( $item->xfn ) .'"' : '';
$attributes .= ! empty( $item->url ) ? ' href="' . esc_attr( $item->url ) .'"' : '';
$item_output = $args->before;
$item_output .= '<a'. $attributes .'>';
$item_output .= $args->link_before . apply_filters( 'the_title', $item->title, $item->ID ) . $args->link_after;
$item_output .= '</a>';
$item_output .= '<br /><span class="sub">' . $item->description . '</span>';
$item_output .= $args->after;
$output .= apply_filters( 'walker_nav_menu_start_el', $item_output, $item, $depth, $args );
}
}
WordPress themes use wp_nav_menu() function to display menus. Most WordPress themes add menus in header.php template. However, it is possible that your theme may have used some other template file to display menus.
What we need to do now is find wp_nav_menu() function in your theme (most likely in header.php) and change it like this.
<?php $walker = new Menu_With_Description; ?>
<?php wp_nav_menu( array( 'theme_location' => 'primary', 'menu_class' => 'nav-menu', 'walker' => $walker ) ); ?>