A Bash script for automated WordPress backup

In WordPress project, I believe that our main assets are database, custom theme files & plugin files. The backup means, securely keep this assets for future use.

In WordPress environment, there is too many options to back up the project. There is some amazing plugins & some hosting provider have separate package for backup handling.

But to familiarize with Bash, I have prepared a small script for WordPress backup.

The script will backup our database, plugins files and theme files in monthly, weekly & daily manner. The backup will be stored in compressed format.

In monthly backup, our files & database are stored for 30 days. In each 30 days, files and database will be replaced with new one.

In weekly backup, files & database are stored in 7 days and replaced with new one in each 7 days period.

In daily backup, the last 3 days files & database are stored & all others will be deleted. That means total 5 backups in 5 separate time period & the risk will be minimal.

We have to create a cron job (Once in daily) in our server after uploading the Bash script to our server’s public_html directory. The script will create a backup folder in public_html directory & the backups will be there.

Note: I have tested the below script on a shared hosting environment and it works.

#!/bin/sh


folder_to_backup="public_html/wp-content/themes public_html/wp-content/plugins"

daily_backup="public_html/backup/daily"
weekly_backup="public_html/backup/weekly"
monthly_backup="public_html/backup/monthly"

now=$(date +'%d-%m-%Y')

yesterday=$(date -d "1 day ago" +'%d-%m-%Y')
day_before_yesterday=$(date -d "2 day ago" +'%d-%m-%Y')
day_before_seven_day=$(date -d "7 day ago" +'%d-%m-%Y')
day_before_30_day=$(date -d "30 day ago" +'%d-%m-%Y')


##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### #### 
#			Clean and store daily backups
##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### #### 

#remove old backups from daily backup
for i in $daily_backup/*
do
	if [ $i = $daily_backup/$yesterday ] || [ $i = $daily_backup/$day_before_yesterday ]
	then
		echo "Match Found"
	else
		rm -rf $i
	fi
done

#create todays folder
mkdir -p $daily_backup/$now

#make daily backup
tar -czf $daily_backup/${now}/wp-content.tar.gz $folder_to_backup/*


##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### #### 
#					Make Database backup
##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### #### 
config_file="public_html/wp-config.php"
if [ -f "$config_file" ]
then
	db_name=`cat public_html/wp-config.php | grep DB_NAME | cut -d \' -f 4`
	user=`cat public_html/wp-config.php | grep DB_USER | cut -d \' -f 4`
	password=`cat public_html/wp-config.php | grep DB_PASSWORD | cut -d \' -f 4`
	host=`cat public_html/wp-config.php | grep DB_HOST | cut -d \' -f 4`
	
	mysqldump --user=$user --password=$password --host=$host $db_name | gzip > $daily_backup/${now}/database.sql.gz
	
	if [ "$?" -eq 0 ]; then
		echo "Success"
	else
		echo "Error"
	fi
	
fi



##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### #### 
#					Make weekly backup
##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### #### 
#Count weekly backup
week_c=$(find $weekly_backup -mindepth 1 -type d | wc -l)

#if weekly folder = 0, create one asap. Else check that it is 7 day ago, remove all backup and add a new one.

if [ $week_c -eq 0 ]
then
	
	mkdir -p $weekly_backup/${now}/
	cp -R $daily_backup/${now}/wp-content.tar.gz $weekly_backup/${now}/
	cp -R $daily_backup/${now}/database.sql.gz $weekly_backup/${now}/
	
elif [  $week_c -eq 1  ]
then

	week_name=$(find $weekly_backup -mindepth 1 -type d)

	if [ $week_name == $weekly_backup/$day_before_seven_day ]
	then
	
		#remove all directory 
		rm -rf $weekly_backup/*
		
		#make a copy of today archive
		mkdir -p $weekly_backup/${now}/
		cp -R $daily_backup/${now}/wp-content.tar.gz $weekly_backup/${now}/
		cp -R $daily_backup/${now}/database.sql.gz $weekly_backup/${now}/
	fi
	
fi



##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### #### 
#					Make monthly backup
##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### ##### #### 
#Count monthly backup
month_c=$(find $monthly_backup -mindepth 1 -type d | wc -l)

#if monthly folder = 0, create one asap. Else check that it is 30 day ago, remove all backup and add a new one.

if [ $month_c -eq 0 ]
then
	
	mkdir -p $monthly_backup/${now}/
	cp -R $daily_backup/${now}/wp-content.tar.gz $monthly_backup/${now}/
	cp -R $daily_backup/${now}/database.sql.gz $monthly_backup/${now}/
	
elif [  $month_c -eq 1  ]
then

	month_name=$(find $monthly_backup -mindepth 1 -type d)

	if [ $month_name == $monthly_backup/$day_before_30_day ]
	then
	
		#remove all directory 
		rm -rf $monthly_backup/*
		
		#make a copy of today archive
		mkdir -p $monthly_backup/${now}/
		cp -R $daily_backup/${now}/wp-content.tar.gz $monthly_backup/${now}/
		cp -R $daily_backup/${now}/database.sql.gz $monthly_backup/${now}/
	
	fi
	
fi

I know that you have better ideas and option to make automated backups. I like to know more & if you have any suggestions, please share with me.

Got a project in mind? Send me a quick message, and I'll get back to you within 24 hours!.

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Sarathlal N

A Bash script for automated WordPress backup

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