Description
When moving your WordPress site to a new domain or server, you will likely run into a need to run a search/replace on the database for everything to work correctly. Fortunately, there are several plugins available for this task, however, all have a different approach to a few key features. This plugin consolidates the best features from these plugins, incorporating the following features in one simple plugin:
- Serialization support for all tables
- The ability to select specific tables
- The ability to run a “dry run” to see how many fields will be updated
- No server requirements aside from a running installation of WordPress
- WordPress Multisite support
Time-saving features available in the Pro version:
- View exactly what changed during a search/replace
- Backup and import the database while running a search/replace
- Priority email support from the developer of the plugin
- Save or load custom profiles for quickly repeating a search/replace in the future
- Support and updates for 1 year
The search and replace functionality is heavily based on interconnect/it’s great and open-source Search Replace DB script, modified to use WordPress native database functions to ensure compatibility.
Supported Languages
- English
- French
- German
- Spanish
Want to contribute?
Feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request on GitHub.
... [truncated]Installation
Install Better Search Replace like you would install any other WordPress plugin.
Dashboard Method:
- Login to your WordPress admin and go to Plugins -> Add New
- Type “Better Search Replace” in the search bar and select this plugin
- Click “Install”, and then “Activate Plugin”
Upload Method:
- Unzip the plugin and upload the “better-search-replace” folder to your ‘wp-content/plugins’ directory
- Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress
wp plugin install better-search-replace --activateFrequently Asked Questions
Once activated, Better Search Replace will add a page under the “Tools” menu page in your WordPress admin.
Yes! This plugin should be compatible with any host.
Yes! Entering a wrong search or replace string could damage your database. Because of this, it is always advisable to have a backup of your database before using this plugin.
When this plugin is installed on a WordPress multisite network:
- Subsite administrators can only search and replace within tables that belong to that subsite by visiting Dashboard > Tools > Better Search Rep... [truncated]
Changelog
1.4.10 – January 14, 2025
- Fix: Improved security and stability
1.4.9 – October 4, 2024
- Security: The plugin now uses its own update mechanism from WP Engine servers
- New: Dependencies have been updated
1.4.8 – September 3, 2024
- No changes as this was a pro-only release for Better Search Replace Pro
1.4.7 – May 30, 2024
- Fix: The case-insensitive setting once again allows case-insensitive strings to be matched within serialized data, fixing a regression introduced in version 1.4.6
1.4.6 – April 17, 2024
- Changed: Serialized text strings are now only deserialized when containing a match, resulting in faster performance
- Security: Table names are now escaped when displaying search results
1.4.5 – January 18, 2024
- Security: Unserializing an object during search and replace operati... [truncated]