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Database Description

Contents 1 Table Overview 2 Table Details 2.1 Table: wp_comments 2.1.1 Indexes 2.2 Table: wp_links 2.2.1 Indexes 2.3 Table: wp_options 2.3.1 Indexes 2.4 Table: wp_postmeta 2.4.1 Indexes 2.5 Table: wp_posts 2.5.1 Indexes 2.6 Table: wp_terms 2.6.1 Indexes 2.7 Table: wp_term_relationships 2.7.1 Indexes 2.8 Table: wp_term_taxonomy 2.8.1 Indexes 2.9 Table: wp_usermeta 2.9.1 Indexes 2.10 Table: wp_users 2.10.1 Indexes 3 Resources

The following is an outline and description of the database tables created during the standard installation of WordPress Version 2.5.1. Currently, the only database supported by WordPress Version 2.5.1 is MySQL version 4.0 or greater.

Also see:

• description of the database for WordPress 2.0.x
• description of the database for WordPress 2.2.x
• description of the database for WordPress 2.3.x

Because WordPress interfaces with this database by itself, you as an end user, shouldn't have to worry much about its structure. If you're Writing a Plugin, however, you may be interested in learning how to interface with the database directly. WordPress provides the wpdb Class to make this task easy.

Table Overview

This section is the overview of all the tables created during the WordPress standard installation. It is followed by specific information of what is in each table.

WordPress 2.5 Tables (10)
Table Name	Description	Relevant Area(s) of WordPress User Interface
wp_comments	The comments within WordPress are stored in the wp_comments table.	Comments are created by readers as responses to posts. Comments are managed by administrator via Administration Panels >> Manage >> Comments
wp_links	The wp_links holds information related to the links entered into the Blogroll Manager feature of WordPress.	Administration Panels >> Blogroll >> Manage Blogroll Administration Panels >> Blogroll >> Add Links Administration Panels >> Blogroll >> Import Links
wp_options	The Options set under the Administration > Options panel are stored in the wp_options table.	Administration Panels >> Options > > General Administration Panels >> Options > >Writing Administration Panels >> Options > >Reading Administration Panels >> Options > >Discussion Administration Panels >> Options > >Permalinks Administration Panels >> Options > >Miscellaneous
wp_postmeta	Each post features information called the meta data and it is stored in the wp_postmeta. Some tag plugins, and other plugins may add their own information to this table.	Administration Panels >> Write >> Write a Post
wp_posts	The core of the WordPress data is the posts. It is stored in the wp_posts table.	Administration Panels >> Write >> Write a Post
wp_terms	The categories for both posts and links and the tags for posts are found within the wp_terms table.	Administration Panels >> Manage >> Categories Administration Panels >> Write >> Write Post Administration Panels >> Manage >> Posts >> Edit
wp_term_relationships	Posts are associated with categories and tags from the wp_terms table and this association is maintained in the wp_term_relationships table. The association of links to their respective categories are also kept in this table.	Administration Panels >> Manage >> Categories Administration Panels >> Write >> Write Post Administration Panels >> Manage >> Posts >> Edit
wp_term_taxonomy	This table describes the taxonomy (category, link, or tag) for the entries in the wp_terms table.	Administration Panels >> Manage >> Categories Administration Panels >> Write >> Write Post Administration Panels >> Manage >> Posts >> Edit
wp_usermeta	Each user features information called the meta data and it is stored in wp_usermeta.	Administration Panels >> Users
wp_users	The list of users is maintained in table wp_users.	Administration Panels >> Users

Table Details

The following are the specific fields in each of the tables created during the standard WordPress installation.

Table: wp_comments

Field	Type	Null	Key	Default	Extra
comment_ID	bigint(20) unsigned		PRI	NULL	auto_increment
comment_post_ID	int(11)		IND	0	FK->wp_posts.ID
comment_author	tinytext
comment_author_email	varchar(100)
comment_author_url	varchar(200)
comment_author_IP	varchar(100)
comment_date	datetime			0000-00-00 00:00:00
comment_date_gmt	datetime		IND & IND Pt2	0000-00-00 00:00:00
comment_content	text
comment_karma	int(11)			0
comment_approved	varchar(20)		IND & Ind Pt1	1
comment_agent	varchar(255)
comment_type	varchar(20)
comment_parent	bigint(20)			0	FK->wp_comment.ID
user_id	bigint(20)			0	FK->wp_users.ID

Indexes

Keyname	Type	Cardinality	Field
PRIMARY	PRIMARY	1	comment_ID
comment_approved	INDEX	None	comment_approved
comment_post_ID	INDEX	None	comment_post_ID
comment_approved_date_gmt	INDEX	None	comment_approved comment_date_gmt
comment_date_gmt	INDEX	None	comment_date_gmt

Table: wp_links

Field	Type	Null	Key	Default	Extra
link_id	bigint(20)		PRI	NULL	auto_increment
link_url	varchar(255)
link_name	varchar(255)
link_image	varchar(255)
link_target	varchar(25)
link_category	bigint(20)		IND	0
link_description	varchar(255)
link_visible	varchar(20)		IND	Y
link_owner	int(11)			1
link_rating	int(11)			0
link_updated	datetime			0000-00-00 00:00:00
link_rel	varchar(255)
link_notes	mediumtext
link_rss	varchar(255)

Indexes

Keyname	Type	Cardinality	Field
PRIMARY	PRIMARY	7	link_ID
link_category	INDEX	None	link_category
link_visible	INDEX	None	link_visible

Table: wp_options

Field	Type	Null	Key	Default	Extra
option_id	bigint(20)		PRI Pt1	NULL	auto_increment
blog_id	int(11)		PRI Pt2	0
option_name	varchar(64)		PRI Pt3 & IND
option_value	longtext
autoload	varchar(20)			yes

Indexes

Keyname	Type	Cardinality	Field
PRIMARY	PRIMARY	90	option_id blog_id option_name
option_name	INDEX	None	option_name

Table: wp_postmeta

Field	Type	Null	Key	Default	Extra
meta_id	bigint(20)		PRI	NULL	auto_increment
post_id	bigint(20)		IND	0	FK->wp_posts.ID
meta_key	varchar(255)	YES	IND	NULL
meta_value	longtext	YES		NULL

Indexes

Keyname	Type	Cardinality	Field
PRIMARY	PRIMARY	0	meta_ID
post_id	INDEX	None	post_id
meta_key	INDEX	None	meta_key

Table: wp_posts

Field	Type	Null	Key	Default	Extra
ID	bigint(20) unsigned		PRI & IND Pt4		auto_increment
post_author	bigint(20)			0	FK->wp_users.ID
post_date	datetime		IND Pt3	0000-00-00 00:00:00
post_date_gmt	datetime			0000-00-00 00:00:00
post_content	longtext
post_title	text
post_category	int(4)			0
post_excerpt	text
post_status	varchar(20)		IND PT2	publish
comment_status	varchar(20)			open
ping_status	varchar(20)			open
post_password	varchar(20)
post_name	varchar(200)		IND
to_ping	text
pinged	text
post_modified	datetime			0000-00-00 00:00:00
post_modified_gmt	datetime			0000-00-00 00:00:00
post_content_filtered	text
post_parent	bigint(20)			0	FK->wp_posts.ID
guid	varchar(255)
menu_order	int(11)			0
post_type	varchar(20)		IND Pt1	post
post_mime_type	varchar(100)
comment_count	bigint(20)			0

Indexes

Keyname	Type	Cardinality	Field
PRIMARY	PRIMARY	2	ID
post_name	INDEX	None	post_name
type_status_date	INDEX	None	post_type post_status post_date ID

Table: wp_terms

Field	Type	Null	Key	Default	Extra
term_id	bigint(20)		PRI		auto_increment
name	varchar(55)
slug	varchar(200)		UNI
term_group	bigint(10)			0

Indexes

Keyname	Type	Cardinality	Field
PRIMARY	PRIMARY	2	term_ID
slug	UNIQUE	2	slug

Table: wp_term_relationships

Field	Type	Null	Key	Default	Extra
object_id	bigint(20)		PRI Pt1	0
term_taxonomy_id	bigint(20)		PRI Pt2 & IND	0	FK->wp_term_taxonomy.term_taxonomy_id
term_order	int(11)			0

Indexes

Keyname	Type	Cardinality	Field
PRIMARY	PRIMARY	8	object_id term_taxonomy_id
term_taxonomy_id	INDEX	None	term_taxonomy_id

Table: wp_term_taxonomy

Field	Type	Null	Key	Default	Extra
term_taxonomy_id	bigint(20)		PRI		auto_increment
term_id	bigint(20)		UNI Pt1	0	FK->wp_terms.term_id
taxonomy	varchar(32)		UNI Pt2
description	longtext
parent	bigint(20)			0
count	bigint(20)			0

Indexes

Keyname	Type	Cardinality	Field
PRIMARY	PRIMARY	2	term_taxonomy_id
term_id_taxonomy	UNIQUE	2	term_id taxonomy

Table: wp_usermeta

Field	Type	Null	Key	Default	Extra
umeta_id	bigint(20)		PRI	NULL	auto_increment
user_id	bigint(20)			'0'	FK->wp_users.ID
meta_key	varchar(255)	Yes	IND	NULL
meta_value	longtext	Yes	IND	NULL

Indexes

Keyname	Type	Cardinality	Field
PRIMARY	PRIMARY	4	umeta_id
user_id	INDEX	None	user_id
meta_key	INDEX	None	meta_key

Table: wp_users

Field	Type	Null	Key	Default	Extra
ID	bigint(20) unsigned		PRI	NULL	auto_increment
user_login	varchar(60)		IND
user_pass	varchar(64)
user_nicename	varchar(50)		IND
user_email	varchar(100)
user_url	varchar(100)
user_registered	datetime			0000-00-00 00:00:00
user_activation_key	varchar(60)
user_status	int(11)			0
display_name	varchar(250)

Indexes

Keyname	Type	Cardinality	Field
PRIMARY	PRIMARY	1	ID
user_login_key	INDEX	None	user_login
user_nicename	INDEX	None	user_nicename

Resources

• A look inside the WordPress database - an indepth dicussion of the database tables by Leonid Mamchenkov.