This article, written to accord with WordPress 1.5, is now obsolete. Please take caution when following its contents, as many things may have changed.

The following is an outline and description of the database tables created during the standard installation of WordPress V 1.5. Currently, the only database supported by WordPress is MySQL version 3.23.23 or greater.

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 1.5 Tables (9)
Table Name	Description	Relevant Area(s) of WordPress User Interface
wp_categories	The post categories for WordPress are found within the `wp_categories` table and they feature five columns. Refer to	Administration Panels >> Manage >> Categories
wp_comments	The comments within WordPress are stored in the `wp_comments` table which contains 15 columns.	Comments are created by readers as responses to posts. Comments are managed by administrator via Administration Panels >> Manage >> Comments
wp_linkcategories	The `wp_linkcategories` hold the information related to the links entered into the Links_Manager feature of WordPress. It has 13 columns.	Administration Panels >> Links >> Link Categories
wp_links	The `wp_links` holds information related to the links entered into the Links_Manager feature of WordPress. It has 14 columns.	Administration Panels >> Links >> Manage Links Administration Panels >> Links >> Add Links Administration Panels >> Links >> Import Links
wp_options	The Options set under the Administration > Options panel are stored in the `wp_options` table and it has 11 columns.	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_post2cat	Each post in the `wp_posts` table is associated with a category from the `wp_categories` table and this association is maintained in the `wp_post2cat` table and it has 3 columns.	Administration Panels >> Write >> Write Post Administration Panels >> Manage >> Posts >> Edit
wp_postmeta	Each post features information called the meta data and it is stored in the `wp_postmeta` which has 4 columns.
wp_posts	The core of the WordPress data is the posts. It is stored in the `wp_posts` table which has 21 columns.	Administration Panels >> Write >> Write a Post
wp_users	The list of users is maintained in table.`wp_users, which` has 22 columns.	Administration Panels >> Users

Table Details

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

Table: wp_categories

Field	Type	Key	Default	Extra
cat_ID	bigint(20)	PRI	NULL	auto_increment
cat_name	varchar(55)
category_nicename	varchar(200)	MUL
category_description	longtext
category_parent	int(4)		0

Table: wp_comments

Field	Type	Key	Default	Extra
comment_ID	bigint(20) unsigned	PRI	NULL	auto_increment
comment_post_ID	int(11)	MUL	0
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		0000-00-00 00:00:00
comment_content	text
comment_karma	int(11)		0
comment_approved	enum('0','1','spam')	MUL	1
comment_agent	varchar(255)
comment_type	varchar(20)
comment_parent	int(11)		0
user_id	int(11)		0

Table: wp_linkcategories

Field	Type	Key	Default	Extra
cat_id	bigint(20)	PRI	NULL	auto_increment
cat_name	tinytext
auto_toggle	enum('Y','N')		N
show_images	enum('Y','N')		Y
show_description	enum('Y','N')		N
show_rating	enum('Y','N')		Y
show_updated	enum('Y','N')		Y
sort_order	varchar(64)		rand
sort_desc	enum('Y','N')		N
text_before_link	varchar(128)		<li>
text_after_link	varchar(128)		<br />
text_after_all	varchar(128)		</li>
list_limit	int(11)		-1

Table: wp_links

Field	Type	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	int(11)	MUL	0
link_description	varchar(255)
link_visible	enum('Y','N')	MUL	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)

Table: wp_options

Field	Type	Key	Default	Extra
option_id	bigint(20)	PRI	NULL	auto_increment
blog_id	int(11)	PRI	0
option_name	varchar(64)	PRI
option_can_override	enum('Y','N')		Y
option_type	int(11)		1
option_value	longtext
option_width	int(11)		20
option_height	int(11)		8
option_description	tinytext
option_admin_level	int(11)		1
autoload	enum('yes','no')		yes

Table: wp_post2cat

Field	Type	Key	Default	Extra
rel_id	bigint(20)	PRI	NULL	auto_increment
post_id	bigint(20)	MUL	0
category_id	bigint(20)		0

Table: wp_postmeta

Field	Type	Null	Key	Default	Extra
meta_id	bigint(20)		PRI	NULL	auto_increment
post_id	bigint(20)		MUL	0
meta_key	varchar(255)	YES	MUL	NULL
meta_value	text	YES		NULL

Table: wp_posts

Field	Type	Key	Default	Extra
ID	bigint(20) unsigned	PRI	NULL	auto_increment
post_author	int(4)		0
post_date	datetime		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	enum('publish','draft','private','static','object')	MUL	publish
comment_status	enum('open','closed','registered_only')		open
ping_status	enum('open','closed')		open
post_password	varchar(20)
post_name	varchar(200)	MUL
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	int(11)		0
guid	varchar(255)
menu_order	int(11)		0

Table: wp_users

Field	Type	Key	Default	Extra
ID	bigint(20) unsigned	PRI	NULL	auto_increment
user_login	varchar(60)	UNI
user_pass	varchar(64)
user_firstname	varchar(50)
user_lastname	varchar(50)
user_nickname	varchar(50)
user_nicename	varchar(50)
user_icq	int(10) unsigned		0
user_email	varchar(100)
user_url	varchar(100)
user_ip	varchar(15)
user_domain	varchar(200)
user_browser	varchar(200)
user_registered	datetime		0000-00-00 00:00:00
user_level	int(2) unsigned		0
user_aim	varchar(50)
user_msn	varchar(100)
user_yim	varchar(50)
user_idmode	varchar(20)
user_activation_key	varchar(60)
user_status	int(11)		0
user_description	longtext

Codex

Database Description/1.5

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