wp_update_post( array|object $postarr = array(), bool $wp_error = false, bool $fire_after_hooks = true ): int|WP_Error

User Contributed Notes

1. Skip to note 9 content

   Codex 9 years ago

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   Examples

   Before calling wp_update_post() it is necessary to create an array to pass the necessary elements. Unlike wp_insert_post() , it is only necessary to pass the ID of the post to be updated and the elements to be updated. The names of the elements should match those in the database.

   // Update post 37
     $my_post = array(
         'ID'           => 37,
         'post_title'   => 'This is the post title.',
         'post_content' => 'This is the updated content.',
     );
   
   // Update the post into the database
     wp_update_post( $my_post );
   Processing $wp_error

   If your updates are not working, there could be an error. It is a good idea to set $wp_error to true and display the error immediately after.

   <?php
   // Of course, this should be done in an development environment only and commented out or removed after deploying to your production site.
   
   wp_update_post( $current_item, true );						  
   if (is_wp_error($post_id)) {
   	$errors = $post_id->get_error_messages();
   	foreach ($errors as $error) {
   		echo $error;
   	}
   }
   ?>

   Categories
   Categories need to be passed as an array of integers that match the category IDs in the database. This is the case even where only one category is assigned to the post.

   Caution – Infinite loop
   When executed by an action hooked into save_post (e.g. a custom metabox), wp_update_post() has the potential to create an infinite loop. This happens because (1) wp_update_post() results in save_post being fired and (2) save_post is called twice when revisions are enabled (first when creating the revision, then when updating the original post—resulting in the creation of endless revisions).

   If you must update a post from code called by save_post, make sure to verify the post_type is not set to ‘revision’ and that the $post object does indeed need to be updated.

   Likewise, an action hooked into edit_attachment can cause an infinite loop if it contains a function call to wp_update_post passing an array parameter with a key value of “ID” and an associated value that corresponds to an Attachment.

   Note you will need to remove then add the hook, code sample modified from the API/Action reference: save_post

   <?php
   function my_function( $post_id ){
   	if ( ! wp_is_post_revision( $post_id ) ){
   	
   		// unhook this function so it doesn't loop infinitely
   		remove_action('save_post', 'my_function');
   	
   		// update the post, which calls save_post again
   		wp_update_post( $my_args );
   
   		// re-hook this function
   		add_action('save_post', 'my_function');
   	}
   }
   add_action('save_post', 'my_function');
   ?>
2. Skip to note 10 content

   Chad Reitsma 4 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 9You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   You can also update the meta at the same time (if needed)

   $data = array(
     'ID' => $post_id,
     'post_content' => $content,
     'meta_input' => array(
       'meta_key' => $meta_value,
   	'another_meta_key' => $another_meta_value
      )
    );
   
   wp_update_post( $data );
3. Skip to note 11 content

   Azamat Xodjakov 4 years ago

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   Programmatically change “publish” (or “draft”) to “future” and schedule the post to be published tomorrow:

   $time = strtotime( 'tomorrow' );
   $my_post = array(
       'ID'            => 1,
       'post_status'   => 'future',
       'post_date'     => date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $time ),
       'post_date_gmt' => gmdate( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', $time ),
   );
   wp_update_post( $my_post );
4. Skip to note 12 content

   Irian 4 years ago

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   When setting the post_date, make sure to also set the post_date_gmt.

   // Change the post date on a post with a status other than 'draft', 'pending' or 'auto-draft'
   $arg = array(
   	'ID'            => $post_id,
   	'post_date'     => $post_date,
   	'post_date_gmt' => get_gmt_from_date( $post_date ),
   );
   wp_update_post( $arg );

   When you are setting the post date on a ‘draft’, ‘pending’ or ‘auto-draft’ post status, also set edit_date to true, otherwise the post date won’t be changed.

   // Change the post date on a post with a status 'draft', 'pending' or 'auto-draft'
   $arg = array(
   	'ID'            => $post_id,
   	'post_date'     => $post_date,
   	'post_date_gmt' => get_gmt_from_date( $post_date ),
   	'edit_date'     => true,
   );
   wp_update_post( $arg );
5. Skip to note 13 content

   Andrei Surdu 4 years ago

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   If you are losing backslashes from post_content field, use wp_slash function to prepare the data:

   wp_update_post( wp_slash( array(
       'ID' => $postId,
       'post_content' => $newContent,
   ) ) );
6. Skip to note 14 content

   PJ Brunet 6 years ago

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   If you’re importing and then applying some updates with this function, it doesn’t recognize ‘import_id’ so remember to also use ‘ID’ too.

   In any case, if you “import” with wp_insert_post and then use wp_update_post, you’re going to lose all your featured images and any additional categories you added between import/update will be lost. (The plugin “Featured Image From URL” solves the featured images problem, if it’s activated.)

   Also, some of the documentation suggests that you can use an author’s name or a category’s name, but as far as I can tell, you can only use the id numbers for authors and categories when importing/updating content.
7. Skip to note 15 content

   Aurovrata Venet 7 years ago

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   programmatically publish a post,

   // Puslish post 37
     $my_post = array(
         'ID'           => 37,
         'post_status'   => 'publish',
     );
    
   // Update the post into the database
     wp_update_post( $my_post );
8. Skip to note 16 content

   ztvmark 6 years ago

   You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: -4You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note

   //Example with acf https://advancedcustomfields.com
   add_action( 'acf/save_post', 'add_category_acf', 20 );
   
   function add_category_acf( $post_id ) {
   
       //uncomment if a specific post is required example post 490
       //$post_id = 490;
       $post_type = get_post_type( $post_id );
   
       if ( 'post' == $post_type ) {
           
           //add the default category with id 3
           $data = array(
               'post_category' => [3],
           );
   
           wp_update_post( $data );
       }
   }

   • this is missing the post ID to update, so it will not work.

     Aurovrata Venet 4 years ago