wp search-replace

Searches/replace strings in the database.

Searches through all rows in a selection of tables and replace appearances of the first string with the second string.

By default, the command uses tables registered to the $wpdb object. On multisite, this will just be the tables for the current site unless --network is specified.

Search/replace intelligently handles PHP serialized data, and does not change primary key values.

Parameters

You can specify Global parameters and the following:

{old}

String to search for in the database.

{new}

String to replace the found string with.

[{table}...]

List of database tables to search. Wildcards are supported, such as 'wp_*options' or 'wp_post*'.

[--dry-run]

Perform the entire search/replace operation and display the report, but do not actually make changes in the database.

[--network]

Search/replace across all tables registered in $wpdb in a multisite installation.

[--all-tables-with-prefix]

Include replacements for any tables matching the table prefix, even if they are not registered in $wpdb.

[--all-tables]

Include replacements for all tables in the database, regardless of the prefix or their registration in $wpdb. Overrides --network and --all-tables-with-prefix options.

[--skip-tables={tables}]

Skip replacements in specified tables. Use commas to specify multiple tables.

[--include-columns={columns}]

Perform replacements in specified columns. Use commas to specify multiple columns.

[--skip-columns={columns}]

Do not perform replacements in specified table columns. Use commas to specify multiple columns.

[--export[={file}]]

Write the transformed data to a SQL file without saving changes to the database. If {file} is not specified, output is sent to standard output (STDOUT).

[--export_insert_size={rows}]

Specifies the number of rows in a single INSERT statement during SQL export. This parameter may need to be adjusted depending on the database configuration (e.g., if fewer queries are required).
Default: 50

[--precise]

Force the use of the PHP query variant (instead of SQL). PHP is more accurate but slower.

[--recurse-objects]

Enable recursion into objects for string replacement.
Default: true

[--no-recurse-objects]

Disable recursion into objects for string replacement.
Default: false

[--verbose]

Output strings to the console as they are updated.

[--regex]

Perform search using a regular expression (without delimiters).
Note: --regex works 15-20 times slower.

[--regex-flags={regex-flags}]

PCRE modifiers for --regex (e.g., 'i' for case-insensitivity).

[--regex-delimiter={regex-delimiter}]

Delimiter used for the regular expression. It must be escaped if it appears in the regex string.
Default: result of chr(1)

[--regex-limit={regex-limit}]

Maximum possible replacements for the regular expression. Affects each string value of an array when deserializing.
Default: -1 (unlimited)

[--format={format}]

Output format of the result. Can be: table, count.
Default: table

[--report]

Generate a report.
Default: true

[--report-changed-only]

Report only the changed fields.
Default: false (if logging is enabled then true)

[--log[={file}]]

File for logging. If {file} is not specified or is set to -, output is sent to STDOUT.
Note: slows down the operation, similar to or worse than enabling --precise or --regex.

[--before_context={num}]

Number of characters to display before the old match and the new replacement. Ignored if logging is disabled.
Default: 40

[--after_context={num}]

Number of characters to display after the old match and the new replacement. Ignored if logging is disabled.
Default: 40

Usage

wp search-replace {old} {new} [{table}...] [--dry-run] [--network] [--all-tables-with-prefix] [--all-tables] [--skip-tables={tables}] [--include-columns={columns}] [--skip-columns={columns}] [--export[={file}]] [--export_insert_size={rows}] [--precise] [--recurse-objects] [--no-recurse-objects] [--verbose] [--regex] [--regex-flags={regex-flags}] [--regex-delimiter={regex-delimiter}] [--regex-limit={regex-limit}] [--format={format}] [--report] [--report-changed-only] [--log[={file}]] [--before_context={num}] [--after_context={num}]

Examples

# Search and replace but skip one column
$ wp search-replace 'http://example.dev' 'http://example.com' --skip-columns=guid

# Run search/replace operation but dont save in database
$ wp search-replace 'foo' 'bar' wp_posts wp_postmeta wp_terms --dry-run

# Run case-insensitive regex search/replace operation (slow)
$ wp search-replace '\[foo id="([0-9]+)"' '[bar id="\1"' --regex --regex-flags='i'

# Turn your production multisite database into a local dev database
$ wp search-replace --url=example.com example.com example.dev 'wp_*options' wp_blogs

# Search/replace to a SQL file without transforming the database
$ wp search-replace foo bar --export=database.sql

# Bash script: Search/replace production to development url (multisite compatible)
#!/bin/bash
if $(wp --url=http://example.com core is-installed --network); then
	wp search-replace --url=http://example.com 'http://example.com' 'http://example.dev' --recurse-objects --network --skip-columns=guid --skip-tables=wp_users
else
	wp search-replace 'http://example.com' 'http://example.dev' --recurse-objects --skip-columns=guid --skip-tables=wp_users
fi

WP CLI search and replace URL for WordPress multisite

wp search-replace example.com newexample.com --precise --network

Source code of the commands

• wp-cli/search-replace-command
  • Search_Replace_Command.php