wp-wpcli-and-ops/references/search-replace.md

Safe wp search-replace

Use this file when migrating domains, switching http→https, or changing paths.

Recommended workflow

1. Backup:
2. wp db export
3. Dry run:
4. wp search-replace OLD NEW --dry-run
5. Run for real (carefully choose scope):
6. consider --all-tables-with-prefix if you need to include non-core tables with the WP prefix
7. Flush:
8. wp cache flush
9. wp rewrite flush

Multisite notes

For multisite, decide whether you’re replacing:

• a single site (--url=...), or
• across the network (--network or iterating wp site list).

Read: - multisite.md

Common flags

• --dry-run
• --precise (slower but can be safer in complex cases)
• --skip-columns=... (avoid touching large/binary columns)
• --report-changed-only

Serialization caution

WP-CLI search-replace is designed to handle PHP serialized data, but you must still:

• avoid replacing within binary/blob columns
• validate results with application smoke tests