WordPress – Working with CLI

by Ralph Wordpress

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Working with CLI

Basic work with posts

Search post content.

wp post list --s="text" --fields=ID,post_title,url

Find posts with ping status “open”.

wp post list --ping_status="open"

And if you only want to get the post IDs:

wp post list --ping_status="open" --fields=ID

Update ping status to “closed” where the value is “open”.

wp post update $(wp post list --ping_status="open" --format=ids) --ping_status="closed";

Search and replace

Search and replace post content.

bashwp search-replace "old thing" "new thing" --all-tables

Post meta

List all metadata associated with a post.

bashwp post meta list 1422 --format=json

Get specific post meta for a post.

bashwp post meta get 1422 "meta_key" --format=json

Update post meta.

bashwp post meta update 1422 "meta_key" "meta_value"

Update post meta from a file.

bashwp post meta update 1422 "post_meta" < file.json --format=json

Delete post meta.

bashwp post meta delete 1422 "post_meta"

Delete all post meta by specific key. (With wp db query.)

bashwp db query "DELETE FROM `wp_postmeta` WHERE `meta_key` = 'NAME_OF_YOUR_META_KEY'"

List posts by meta key or value.

bashwp post list --fields=ID,post_title,url --meta_key="meta_key"
wp post list --fields=ID,post_title,url --meta_key="meta_key" --meta_compare="NOT EXISTS"
wp post list --post_type="post_type" --fields=ID,post_title,url --meta_key="meta_key" --meta_compare="NOT EXISTS"
wp post list --fields=ID,post_title,url --meta_key="_wp_page_template" --meta_value="page-templates/post-full-grid.php"

The meta_compare flag also accepts "LIKE" as a value, so that you can do:

phpwp post list --fields=ID,post_title,url --meta_key='meta_key' --meta_compare='LIKE' --meta_value='value'

Update meta where it’s missing.

bashwp post meta update $(wp post list --post_type="post_type" --meta_key="meta_key" --meta_compare="NOT EXISTS" --format=ids) "meta_key" "meta_value"

Update post meta for all posts in a category.

bashwp post meta update $(wp post list --category_name="category" --format=ids) "meta_key" "meta_value"

Save meta value based on an existing meta value. In this example I’m looping through all post with a specific post type and saving the URL of the featured image to the post’s meta.

bashfor id in $(wp post list --post_type="post_type" --fields=ID --meta_key="meta_key" --meta_compare="NOT EXISTS")
do
    wp post meta update $id "meta_key" $(wp post meta pluck $(wp post meta get $id _thumbnail_id) _wp_attachment_metadata file)
done

Show specific meta value for posts based on a category.

bashfor id in $(wp post list --post_type="post_type" --fields=ID --category="category name")
do
    wp post meta get $id "meta_key"
done

Export/import all meta.

bashwp post meta list 1422 --format=json > 1422_meta.json
wp post update 1422 --meta_input= < 1422_meta.json

Working with post terms

Move posts from one tag to another.

bashfor id in $(wp post list --tag=OLD_TAG --format=ids)
do
    wp post term remove $id post_tag OLD_TAG --by=slug
    wp post term add $id post_tag NEW_TAG --by=slug
done

Delete Posts

Delete all posts from a custom post type. (Adding --force will skip the trash and remove the posts completely.)

bashwp post delete $(wp post list --post_type='activity' --format=ids) --force

If you’re trying to delete too many posts at once, you might get an error like this:

bashPHP Fatal error: Allowed memory size of xxx bytes exhausted

Or perhaps this one:

bashArgument list too long

One way around this is to limit how many posts you’re deleting at once using the posts_per_page option, for example:

bashwp post delete $(wp post list --post_type='activity' --posts_per_page=50000 --format=ids) --force

Delete posts with specific meta key.

bashwp post delete $(wp post list --format=ids --meta_key="meta_key")

Delete posts with specific meta key and meta value.

bashwp post delete $(wp post list --format=ids --meta_key="meta_key" --meta_value="meta_value")

Delete posts where a specific meta key is missing.

bashwp post delete $(wp post list --format=ids --meta_key="meta_key" --meta_compare="NOT EXISTS")

Post revisions

List all revisions.

bashwp post list --post_type=revision

List revisions for a specific post.

bashwp post list --post_parent=1422 --post_type=revision

Get more info on revisions for a specific post.

bashfor id in $(wp post list --post_parent=1422 --post_type=revision --fields=ID)
do
    wp post get $id
done

Site Options

Change the site URL.

bashwp option update home 'https://example.com'
wp option update siteurl 'https://example.com'

Plugins

List active plugins.

bashwp plugin list --status=active

Activate/deactivate plugins.

bashwp plugin activate plugin-1 plugin-2 plugin-3
wp plugin deactivate plugin-1 plugin-2 plugin-3

Users

Update user password.

wp user update USER_ID --user_pass="newpassword"

WP CLI cheatsheet

check database size

Returns sizes of all database tables in a human friendly format.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/db/size/

wp db size --human-readable --tables

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check db status

Run health check on the database set in the wp-config.php file. It reports status of each database table separately in the output.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/db/check/

wp db check

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check for updates

Checks if WP-CLI is due for an update.

wp cli check-update

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check version

Return WP CLI version.

wp cli version

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configure wordpress

Creates config.php file. Requires mysql cli to be installed.

wp config create --dbname=yourdbname --dbuser=root --prompt=dbpassword

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count all posts

This command searches for all posts in the database and returns the count number.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/post/list/

wp post list --format=count

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download wordpress

Download latest version of WordPress core files to current directory.

wp core download

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edit config

Opens wp-config.php file in the default text editor.

wp config edit

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export

Exports WXR file containing XML formatted data about your site including posts, comments and information about images and other attachments. Site option settings are excluded.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/export/

wp export

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export single page

By combining the following flags you can export a single page from WordPress. First set the post type you want to export (page) then set the ID of the post, and finally limit the command to only fetch a single post. Skipping comments is optional.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/export/

wp export --skip_comments --post_type=page --post__in=4995 --max_num_posts=1

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generate salts

This command will generate authentication unique keys and salts in your wp-config.php file.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/config/shuffle-salts/

wp config shuffle-salts

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get media image sizes

List all defined image sizes, their width, height and the crop details.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/media/image-size/

wp media image-size

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import

Imports WXR files.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/import/

wp import yoursiteexample.wordpress.2021-09-22.000.xml

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import to sub-site

You can import WXR data files to specific site in the multi-site installation. The –url flag identifies the site you want to migrate data to. Skipping authors is optional.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/import/

wp import yoursiteexample.wordpress.2021-10-15.000.xml --authors=skip --url=http://yoursite.com/subsite

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install plugin

Install a plugin in your WordPress site. By passing –activate flag you can enable your new plugin in one command.

wp plugin install [pluginhandle] --activate

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list all pages

This command is based on the “wp post list” used to return all posts but the “–post_type=page” flag changes the search scope to return only pages. By default the output if formatted as a table and includes page ID, title, slug, creation date, and the status.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/post/list/

wp post list --post_type=page

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list all post meta

Use post ID to return all related meta data. By default it returns data as a table but other formats are available, for example you can use this flag –format=json to get data as json.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/post/meta/list/

wp post meta list <ID>

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list custom post type

Returns a table of custom posts with a type specified using the –post_type flag.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/post/list/

wp post list --post_type=movie

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list database table columns

Lists all columns in a given database table. You will need to pass a table name as the argument. List of the default WordPress tables – wp_commentmeta, wp_comments, wp_links, wp_options, wp_postmeta, wp_posts, wp_term_relationships, wp_term_taxonomy, wp_termmeta, wp_terms, wp_usermeta, wp_users.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/db/columns/

wp db columns {tabel name}

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list database tables

Lists all tables in the database connected to your site.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/db/tables/

wp db tables

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list post types

Returns a table of all post types including custom posts.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/post-type/

wp post-type list

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list posts

Returns a table of all posts including ID, title, name, date and status.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/post/list/

wp post list

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list sites

If you’re running a multi-site WordPress installation you can return a handy table presenting blog ID, URL, and update dates of each site instance.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/site/list/

wp site list

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list taxonomies

Returns a table of all registered taxonomies including categories, post tags, navigation menus, themes, custom taxonomies and more.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/taxonomy/list/

wp taxonomy list

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maintenance-mode activate

Puts your site in a maintenance mode and returns “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.” message with a 503 server response.

wp maintenance-mode activate

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maintenance-mode deactivate

Takes your site out of maintenance mode.

wp maintenance-mode deactivate

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maintenance-mode status

Returns maintenance mode status of your site.

wp maintenance-mode status

open mysql cli

Connects to the database set in your wp-config.php file using MySQL CLI.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/db/cli/

wp db cli

optimize database

Runs MySQL optimizer on the connected database.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/db/optimize/

wp db optimize

regenerate thumbnails

Regenerate all thumbnail image sizes stored in the media library. The –yes flag confirms your choice.

wp media regenerate --yes

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scaffold plugin

This command will generate basic files and structure for a new plugin. Use –skip-tests flag to omit php unit tests in the process.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/scaffold/plugin/

wp scaffold plugin your-plugin-slug

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scaffold theme

Generates un-styled main theme with all the necessary files and views to display content.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/scaffold/_s/

wp scaffold _s your-theme-slug --theme_name="Theme Name" --author="Your Name"

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search string in DB

You can search for a string in connected WordPress database. The –stats flag will append details about the search like matches found and tables searched.

Reference:https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/db/search/

wp db search <string_to_find> --stats

update all plugins

Updates all installed plugins.

wp plugin update --all

update wp-cli

Update WP-CLI to the latest version.

wp cli update

wp-cli info

Prints information to the console about WP CLI and its environment such as version, OS, PHP, MySQL.