Change default favicon programmatically

Question

I know I can load a favicon though the user interface, but is there a way of setting the default favicon for your theme, so that when someone enables the theme, the default icon is immediately used?

Answer 1

You can place the favicon.ico in your theme folder (at the same level as your_theme.info) and it will be used automatically.

Works for Drupal 6, 7 & 8.

Note: The favicon is heavily cached by some browsers, you may need to go to extra lengths to see the new one.

Answer 2

In Drupal 8, you can use the settings.yml file, located at themes/YOURTHEME/config/install/YOURTHEME.settings.yml

Here is an example for theme logo/favicon customization:

logo:
  use_default: false
  path: 'themes/YOURTHEME/logo.png'
favicon:
  use_default: false
  path: 'themes/YOURTHEME/favicon.png'

However, if you change these settings whereas your theme is already installed in Drupal administration, you will need to uninstall your theme and then reinstall it. Else, even if you clear all caches, Drupal will not take in consideration your changes.

Answer 3

<?php
function hook_page_alter(&$pages) {  
  $favicon = "http://example.com/sites/default/files/favicon.ico";
  $type = theme_get_setting('favicon_mimetype');
  drupal_add_html_head_link(array('rel' => 'shortcut icon', 'href' => drupal_strip_dangerous_protocols($favicon), 'type' => $type));
}
?>

Answer 4

Method 1 - via template.php

/**
 * Implements hook_html_head_alter().
 */
function MYTHEME_html_head_alter(&$head_elements) {

  // Remove existing favicon location
  global $base_url;
  $default_favicon_element = 'drupal_add_html_head_link:shortcut icon:' . $base_url . '/misc/favicon.ico';
  unset($head_elements[$default_favicon_element]);

  // Specify new favicon location
  $element = array(
    'rel' => 'shortcut icon',
    'href' => '/path-to-favicon/favicon.ico',
  );
  drupal_add_html_head_link($element);
}

Method 2 - via custom module

/**
 * Implements hook_html_head_alter().
 */
  // Remove existing favicon location
 function MODULENAME_html_head_alter(&$head_elements) {
   global $base_url;
   $default_favicon_element = 'drupal_add_html_head_link:shortcut icon:' . $base_url . '/misc/favicon.ico';
   unset($head_elements[$default_favicon_element]);

  // Specify new favicon location
  $element = array(
    'rel' => 'shortcut icon',
    'href' => '/path-to-favicon/favicon.ico',
  );
  drupal_add_html_head_link($element);
 }

See hook_html_head_alter for more info.

Note: It's not required to list the new favicon location in hook_html_head_alter(). I usually specify it in THEMENAME_preprocess_html() or MODULENAME_init().

Answer 5

The following code (in a custom module) replaces the favicon, instead of adding an additional one.

/**
 * Implements hook_html_head_alter().
 *
 * Replaces the favicon.
 *
 * @param array $head_elements
 */
function MYMODULE_html_head_alter(&$head_elements) {
  foreach ($head_elements as $key => $element) {
    if (1
      // The array key can vary, depending on the original favicon setting.
      && 0 === strpos($key, 'drupal_add_html_head_link:shortcut icon:')
      && !empty($element['#attributes']['href'])
      && 'shortcut icon' === $element['#attributes']['rel']
    ) {
      // Make sure to use a file that actually exists!
      $favicon_path = drupal_get_path('module', 'MYMODULE') . '/img/favicon_32.png';
      $favicon_url = file_create_url($favicon_path);
      // If the favicon path came from a user-provided setting, we would also need drupal_strip_dangerous_protocols().
      $element['#attributes']['href'] = $favicon_url;
      $element['#attributes']['type'] = 'image/png';
      $head_elements[$key] = $element;
    }
  }
}

For the favicon file location I would suggest either the module folder of MYMODULE, or sites/default/favicon.ico. The goal is to have the file in version control, and NOT in the public files folder. We don't want it to be web-writable.

I assume most people will use *.ico instead of *.png, in this case the 'type' can keep its original value.

Answer 6

In Drupal 8 you must set favicon to true in YOUR_THEME.settings.yml (located at themes/YOUR_THEME/config/install) and put your favicon file at your theme root directory with the name "favicon.ico"

features: 
   favicon:true