Introduction

WP-CLI is one of the command line tools specifically made to manage your WordPress websites through the command line. You can manage WordPress without even needing to login to your WordPress admin and navigate through the pages. WP-CLI will be particularly useful if you are a WordPress developer, System Administrator or run a business built around WordPress. 

This command line tool will greatly help you do more in less time , for example taking backups, updating WordPress and plugins, publishing content and querying databases can be accomplished relatively quickly.

Requirements of WP-CLI

Here are the requirements of WP-CLI needed

• PHP 5.3.2 or later.
• WordPress 3.4 or later.
• Linux OS.

Installation of  WP-CLI‌

Follow these steps to install WP-CLI, a command-line tool for managing WordPress installations

Step: 1 Download the WP-CLI Tool

Download the WP-CLI apparatus from Github with the accompanying order

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar

Step: 2 Verify the Download

After the download verify that the WP-CLI Phar file has been downloaded successfully by checking its information

php wp-cli.phar –info‌

Step: 3 Make WP-CLI Executable

Presently you need to set wp-cli.phar to be an executable document. Just enter the following command

chmod +x wp-cli.phar‌

Step: 4 Move WP-CLI to a System-Wide Location

Finally, move the executable file to a directory that’s in your system’s PATH, so you can run wp from any location

sudo mv wp-cli.phar /usr/local/bin/wp

Now that WP-CLI is installed, you can start managing your WordPress site from the command line. This powerful tool allows you to perform various tasks such as updating plugins, managing themes, and much more, all through the terminal.

Installing WordPress Using WP-CLI

Step 1: Download WordPress

We need to download WordPress in order to install it.  Navigate to the directory you’d like to download the WordPress CMS to and run the following command

wp core download

Step 2: Create a New Database User

To create a new MySQL database user, log in to the MySQL command line and execute the following commands

Using below command log in to the MySQL

mysql

After login to mysql use these commands to create a database, create a database user, and grant privileges to the user on the database.

CREATE USER ‘databaseuser’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘password’;

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO ‘databaseuser’@’localhost’;

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Step 3: Create the “wp-config.php” File

This command will download the latest version of WordPress after Download is completed. your can create wp-config.php file using following commands

wp core config –dbname=databasename –dbuser=databaseuser –dbpass=password –dbhost=localhost –dbprefix=wp_ –allow-root

This command displays all of your login credentials in the wp-config.php file. Now the wp-config.php file is created.

Step 4: Create the Database

create a fresh database with the name specified in the wp-config.php file

wp db create

Step 5: Install WordPress

Execute the core install command to complete the WordPress installation

wp core install –url=example.com –title=”WordPress Website Title” –admin_user=admin_user –admin_password=admin_password –[email protected]

Using WP-CLI to Install and Manage WordPress Themes

List Installed Themes

First, navigate to your WordPress directory, then execute the command to list installed themes:

wp theme list

The output looks like this:

Activate a Theme

To activate a theme, use the following command

wp theme activate twentynineteen

Have a quick look into the wp-config.php

This command shows the output of  wp-config.php

wp config get

Get the Path of wp-config.php

Use the following command to get the path

wp config path

Example output 

Using WP-CLI to Run Core Updates

a. Update WordPress Core

Run the following command to update WordPress core

wp core update

b. Check WordPress Version

To check the current version of WordPress, use

wp core version

Managing Plugins with WP-CLI

a. List Installed Plugins

To list all installed plugins, use

wp plugin list –allow-root

b. Deactivate a Plugin

To deactivate a plugin, use

wp plugin deactivate <plugin_name>

wp plugin deactivate akismet

c. Delete a Plugin

To delete a plugin, use:

wp plugin delete hello

d. Update All Plugins

To update all plugins use this command,

wp plugin update –all

e. Check Plugin Status

To check the status of plugins

wp plugin status

Using WP-CLI to Search and Replace

To search and replace text within your WordPress database, use:

wp search-replace –dry-run ‘example.com’ ‘sample.example1.com’

Installing a Plugin Through WP-CLI

To install a plugin, use:

wp plugin install woocommerce

Resetting User Passwords

a. Reset User Password

To reset a user password, use:

wp user update root_root –user_pass=sample@123

b. Reset User Password with Display Name

To reset a user password and update the display name, use:

wp user update root_root –display_name=admin –user_pass=sample1@123

 

Conclusion

By following the steps outlined above, you can efficiently use WP-CLI to install and manage your WordPress site. This includes downloading and configuring WordPress, creating databases and users, and handling themes and plugins. WP-CLI provides a powerful command-line interface for WordPress management, enabling you to automate tasks and streamline your workflow. Whether you are performing updates, managing users, or configuring settings, WP-CLI offers a robust and efficient way to interact with your WordPress site. Keep this guide handy as a reference for your future WordPress projects and continue exploring more advanced WP-CLI commands to further enhance your site’s management.