How to bulk delete WordPress posts in a category via SQL

This “How to bulk delete WordPress posts in a category via SQL” article is your definitive guide on how to delete all WordPress posts in one category. Removing posts in WordPress is an easy frontend job but when you’re dealing with thousands to hundreds

of thousands of posts in a category, the task is near to impossible. In this example we will teach you on how to easily complete this difficult job by invoking an SQL query in PHPmyAdmin.

How to bulk delete WordPress posts in a category via SQL

➤ How to bulk delete WordPress posts in a category via SQL and phpMyAdmin

Warning: This tip requires knowledge of SQL and PHPmyAdmin to accomplish. Also, before you proceed with the steps, it is a must to create your database backup in case something in the process goes south.

Copy and Paste the SQL query below to PHPmyAdmin.

delete a,b,c,d

FROM wp_posts a

LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships b ON ( a.ID = b.object_id )

LEFT JOIN wp_postmeta c ON ( a.ID = c.post_id )

LEFT JOIN wp_term_taxonomy d ON ( d.term_taxonomy_id = b.term_taxonomy_id )

LEFT JOIN wp_terms e ON ( e.term_id = d.term_id )

WHERE e.term_id =3333

If in any case you implemented custom table names and databases instead of the WordPress default, replace the value ‘wp_’ with your custom SQL table name, say ‘mydatabase_’. The number ‘3333’ should correspond to the taxonomy ID of your Category name. Making the mistake of typing in the incorrect category ID number can result to inadvertently deleting the wrong posts. Again, create a backup! To apply this tweak, refer to the custom command below:

delete a,b,c,d

FROM mydatabase_posts a

LEFT JOIN mydatabase_term_relationships b ON ( a.ID = b.object_id )

LEFT JOIN mydatabase_postmeta c ON ( a.ID = c.post_id )

LEFT JOIN mydatabase_term_taxonomy d ON ( d.term_taxonomy_id = b.term_taxonomy_id )

LEFT JOIN mydatabase_terms e ON ( e.term_id = d.term_id )

WHERE e.term_id =3333

For troubleshooting and maintenance purposes, you can invoke the SQL query below before proceeding with deletion query above. This will give you an idea how many posts and entries would be affected by the deletion. Note: replace ‘mydatabase_’ with your custom ‘wp_’ table name.

SELECT *

FROM mydatabase_posts a

LEFT JOIN mydatabase_term_relationships b ON ( a.ID = b.object_id )

LEFT JOIN mydatabase_postmeta c ON ( a.ID = c.post_id )

LEFT JOIN mydatabase_term_taxonomy d ON ( d.term_taxonomy_id = b.term_taxonomy_id )

LEFT JOIN mydatabase_terms e ON ( e.term_id = d.term_id )

WHERE e.term_id =3333

Please don’t forget to post your comments below if this works out for you.

posted May 7, 2018 by THE11thROCK for TeraBlitz.com

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