The essential & basic WP-CLI commands for a WordPress developer

The WP-CLI is a powerful command line tool for managing WordPress. I believe that it is an essential tool for a WordPress Developer. If we know the options, it is a handy tool & we can improve our WordPress workflow.

Below you can find a large list of WP-CLI commands that is useful in every day.

Install WordPress using WP-CLI

First Create wp-config.php file.

wp core config --dbname=your_db_name --dbuser=your_db_user --dbpass=your_db_password --dbhost=localhost --dbprefix=wp_

I believe that you already created Database and permission for the user.

Install WordPress

wp core install --url="your_domain" --title="Blog Title" --admin_user="admin_username" --admin_password="your_password" --admin_email="your_email"

Update WordPress Core using WP-CLI

wp core update

downgrade / upgrade WordPress core to a specific version

wp core update --version=4.8.1 --force

Plugin Management using WP-CLI

List installed plugins

wp plugin list

Format the output of plugin list

There is an option to update the output format in CSV or JSON in WP-CLI.

wp plugin list --format=json

wp plugin list --format=csv

If you need to refine & filter the list with parameters, it is too easy.

List plugin names & its version only

wp plugin list --fields=name,version

List inactive plugins

wp plugin list --status=inactive

List update available plugins

wp plugin list --update=available

Install Plugin

wp plugin install woocommerce

Activate Plugin

wp plugin activate woocommerce

Deactivate Plugin

wp plugin deactivate woocommerce

Manage theme using WP-CLI

Same like plugins, it is too easier to manage themes using WP-CLI.

List installed themes

wp theme list

Install new theme

wp theme install twentytwelve

Activate new theme

wp theme activate twentytwelve

Import sample data using WP-CLI

First, we have to install WordPress Import Plugin & then run the import command.

wp import wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/dummy-data/dummy-data.xml --authors=create

Update WordPress Options Using WP-CLI

Update blog name

wp option update blogname "New blog name"

Update blog description

wp option update blogdescription "New blog description"

Update admin email

wp option update admin_email someone@example.com

Update time zone

wp option update timezone_string "America/New_York"

Update Discourage search engines from indexing this site option

wp option set blog_public 0

Post Management using WP-CLI

List posts

wp post list

List pages

wp post list --post_type=page

Create a new post

wp post create --post_type=post --post_title='A sample post'

Update an existing post status

wp post update 123 --post_status=draft

Delete an existing post

wp post delete 123

Launch system editor to edit post

wp post edit 123

Generate multiple posts

wp post generate --count=5

Generate multiple pages

wp post generate --post_type=page --count=3

Migrate WordPress database using WP-CLI

When we move WordPress from one domain to another domain, we have to migrate WordPress Database. We can use WP-CLI’s search-replace command for database migration. It is better to run this command on the new host after database is imported.

Migrate & View report

wp search-replace example.com newexample.com --dry-run

If there is no error, migrate & save DB.

wp search-replace example.com newexample.com

Database backup using WP-CLI

wp db export

A backup of our database in a .SQL format will be available at the root of our website.

The options are never end. To know more about WP-CLI, I suggest to check the WordPress Codex page.

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This article was published on August 29, 2017

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