WordPress uses several core database tables to manage website data, each serving a specific purpose. The wp_options table stores site settings like the site title, permalink structure, and active plugins; wp_posts holds all content types such as posts, pages, and media via the post_type field; wp_postmeta contains extra metadata for posts like custom fields; wp_users manages login details while wp_usermeta stores user roles and profile info. These tables form the foundation for WordPress functionality and are essential for customization and troubleshooting.
WordPress relies on a set of core database tables to store and manage all the data for your website. If you're customizing, debugging, or just curious how WordPress works under the hood, it helps to know which tables are essential.
Here’s a breakdown of the main ones and what they do:
wp_options
– Stores Site Settings
This is where WordPress keeps general settings like site title, admin email, permalink structure, active theme, and plugin options. Most plugins also store their configuration here.
If you’re troubleshooting performance or seeing outdated settings, checking this table can help. You’ll often see serialized data here, especially from plugins — so be careful editing it directly unless you understand the format.
Some common entries:
-
siteurl
– Your main site address -
home
– The homepage URL -
template
– Current theme folder name -
active_plugins
– List of activated plugins
wp_posts
– Holds All Content Types
This table might surprise you because it doesn’t only hold blog posts. It stores pages, attachments, revisions, menus, and even some custom post types.
Each row has a post_type
field that tells WordPress what kind of content it is. For example, a page has page
as its type, while media files show up as attachment
.
Important fields:
-
post_status
– Tells if it's published, draft, private, etc. -
post_date
– When it was published -
post_content
,post_title
,post_excerpt
– The actual content bits
If you're doing bulk edits or migrations, this table is one of the biggest players.
wp_postmeta
– Extra Info for Posts
Since not every post needs the same extra info, WordPress uses this table to store additional metadata. Think of things like custom fields, SEO titles, image alt text, or plugin-generated values.
Each entry is linked to a specific post via post_id
. This table can grow pretty big over time, especially if you use a lot of plugins or have many images. Cleaning up old or orphaned rows here can sometimes improve performance.
wp_users
and wp_usermeta
– User Accounts and Profiles
These two tables work together:
-
wp_users
holds login info like username, password (hashed), and email -
wp_usermeta
stores extra details like roles, display name, capabilities, and profile fields
User roles (like administrator or subscriber) are actually stored in wp_usermeta
under the key wp_capabilities
. This makes it easier to change roles without altering the main user table.
Plugins that add custom user fields usually drop them in wp_usermeta
, so it’s worth checking there if something seems off with permissions or profiles.
That’s the basic list. There are a few more tables like wp_comments
, wp_commentmeta
, and wp_terms
related ones for categories and tags, but those aren't always considered "core" in every context.
If you ever need to dig into the database directly, these tables will give you a solid starting point. Just remember to back up before making changes — especially in wp_options
or wp_usermeta
.
The above is the detailed content of What are the core WordPress database tables. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

Hot AI Tools

Undress AI Tool
Undress images for free

Undresser.AI Undress
AI-powered app for creating realistic nude photos

AI Clothes Remover
Online AI tool for removing clothes from photos.

Clothoff.io
AI clothes remover

Video Face Swap
Swap faces in any video effortlessly with our completely free AI face swap tool!

Hot Article

Hot Tools

Notepad++7.3.1
Easy-to-use and free code editor

SublimeText3 Chinese version
Chinese version, very easy to use

Zend Studio 13.0.1
Powerful PHP integrated development environment

Dreamweaver CS6
Visual web development tools

SublimeText3 Mac version
God-level code editing software (SublimeText3)

Hot Topics

To roll back the WordPress version, you can use the plug-in or manually replace the core file and disable automatic updates. 1. Use WPDowngrade and other plug-ins to enter the target version number to automatically download and replace; 2. Manually download the old version of WordPress and replace wp-includes, wp-admin and other files through FTP, but retain wp-config.php and wp-content; 3. Add code in wp-config.php or use filters to disable core automatic updates to prevent further upgrades. Be sure to back up the website and database before operation to ensure safety and reliability. It is recommended to keep the latest version for security and functional support in the long term.

The steps to create a custom shortcode in WordPress are as follows: 1. Write a PHP function through functions.php file or custom plug-in; 2. Use add_shortcode() to bind the function to the shortcode tag; 3. Process parameters in the function and return the output content. For example, when creating button shortcodes, you can define color and link parameters for flexible configuration. When using it, you can insert a tag like [buttoncolor="red"url="https://example.com"] in the editor, and you can use do_shortcode() to model it

The main reasons why WordPress causes the surge in server CPU usage include plug-in problems, inefficient database query, poor quality of theme code, or surge in traffic. 1. First, confirm whether it is a high load caused by WordPress through top, htop or control panel tools; 2. Enter troubleshooting mode to gradually enable plug-ins to troubleshoot performance bottlenecks, use QueryMonitor to analyze the plug-in execution and delete or replace inefficient plug-ins; 3. Install cache plug-ins, clean up redundant data, analyze slow query logs to optimize the database; 4. Check whether the topic has problems such as overloading content, complex queries, or lack of caching mechanisms. It is recommended to use standard topic tests to compare and optimize the code logic. Follow the above steps to check and solve the location and solve the problem one by one.

Methods to optimize WordPress sites that do not rely on plug-ins include: 1. Use lightweight themes, such as Astra or GeneratePress, to avoid pile-up themes; 2. Manually compress and merge CSS and JS files to reduce HTTP requests; 3. Optimize images before uploading, use WebP format and control file size; 4. Configure.htaccess to enable browser cache, and connect to CDN to improve static resource loading speed; 5. Limit article revisions and regularly clean database redundant data.

Miniving JavaScript files can improve WordPress website loading speed by removing blanks, comments, and useless code. 1. Use cache plug-ins that support merge compression, such as W3TotalCache, enable and select compression mode in the "Minify" option; 2. Use a dedicated compression plug-in such as FastVelocityMinify to provide more granular control; 3. Manually compress JS files and upload them through FTP, suitable for users familiar with development tools. Note that some themes or plug-in scripts may conflict with the compression function, and you need to thoroughly test the website functions after activation.

TransientsAPI is a built-in tool in WordPress for temporarily storing automatic expiration data. Its core functions are set_transient, get_transient and delete_transient. Compared with OptionsAPI, transients supports setting time of survival (TTL), which is suitable for scenarios such as cache API request results and complex computing data. When using it, you need to pay attention to the uniqueness of key naming and namespace, cache "lazy deletion" mechanism, and the issue that may not last in the object cache environment. Typical application scenarios include reducing external request frequency, controlling code execution rhythm, and improving page loading performance.

Object cache assists persistent storage, suitable for high access and low updates, tolerating short-term lost data. 1. Data suitable for "persistence" in cache includes user configuration, popular product information, etc., which can be restored from the database but can be accelerated by using cache. 2. Select a cache backend that supports persistence such as Redis, enable RDB or AOF mode, and configure a reasonable expiration policy, but it cannot replace the main database. 3. Set long TTL or never expired keys, adopt clear key name structure such as user:1001:profile, and update the cache synchronously when modifying data. 4. It can combine local and distributed caches to store small data locally and big data Redis to store big data and use it for recovery after restart, while paying attention to consistency and resource usage issues.

The most effective way to prevent comment spam is to automatically identify and intercept it through programmatic means. 1. Use verification code mechanisms (such as Googler CAPTCHA or hCaptcha) to effectively distinguish between humans and robots, especially suitable for public websites; 2. Set hidden fields (Honeypot technology), and use robots to automatically fill in features to identify spam comments without affecting user experience; 3. Check the blacklist of comment content keywords, filter spam information through sensitive word matching, and pay attention to avoid misjudgment; 4. Judge the frequency and source IP of comments, limit the number of submissions per unit time and establish a blacklist; 5. Use third-party anti-spam services (such as Akismet, Cloudflare) to improve identification accuracy. Can be based on the website
