The name comes from ‘WordPress Command Line Interface’ – WP-CLI. You can use WP-CLI to manage WordPress and:
- Detect errors and issues and fix them
- Bypass using the interface when the backend is unavailable
- Do regular maintenance and updates
This article lists several useful commands for you, but the list is non-exhaustive. Click on the link to explore more WP-CLI commands.
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- How do I use WP-CLI
- User management commands in WP-CLI
- WordPress updates via WP-CLI
- Plugin management
How do I use WP-CLI
WP-CLI is installed on all Webhosting packages in Easyhost. All you have to do is connect to the account via SSH. For Windows you can use a free SSH client such as Putty. For Linux and Mac, simply use your terminal.
All of the following WP-CLI commands have to be executed from the directory where your WordPress website is installed. To change the current directory, simply use the cd command, for example:
cd www/
User management commands in WP-CLI
Create user
This command will create a new user with username “username” with the specified permissions, e-mail address and password.
wp user create username-here your-email@address.com --role=administrator --user_pass=password-here
Delete user
This command will delete the user with the specified username – in this case “username”.
wp user delete username
List all users
The following command will show you all users in your CMS with their ID, display name, e-mail address and permissions/role.
wp user list
Edit password for a user
Use the numeric ID from the output of the previous command to edit the password for a user of your choice
wp user update 1 --user_pass=new-password-here
WordPress updates via WP-CLI
WordPress core
Check the current WordPress core version:
wp core version
Update the WordPress core to the latest available version
wp core update
If you need to update to a particular version, for example if a plugin you use is incompatible with the latest WordPress available, you can force WordPress to update to a version of your choice. The example below would update your CMS to WordPress v4.5
wp core update --version=4.5 --force
Themes
Check the current status and update availability of all themes
wp theme list
OR
wp theme status
where you see the name, the version and a letter indicator – I = Inactive, A = Active, U = Update Available
Check for outdated themes only:
wp theme list | grep "available"
Update all themes:
wp theme update --all
Plugins
Check the current status and update availability of all plugins
wp plugin list
OR
wp plugin status
where you see the name, the version and a letter indicator – I = Inactive, A = Active, U = Update Available
Check for outdated plugins only:
wp plugin list | grep "available"
Update all plugins:
wp plugin update --all
Update one plugin only:
wp plugin update name-of-plugin
Plugin management
Deactivate all plugins
wp plugin deactivate --all
Activate all plugins
wp plugin activate --all
(De)activate particular plugin
wp plugin deactivate name-of-plugin
OR
wp plugin activate name-of-plugin