wp db tables

Overview

List every table in the WordPress database. Use it to understand the full DB structure, verify plugin tables exist, audit leftovers from removed plugins, or target specific tables for export and query operations.

What It Does

wp db tables queries the MySQL SHOW TABLES and returns all tables within the WordPress database. Results can be filtered by scope (global/blog) and output in multiple formats for scripting.

Syntax

wp db tables [<table>...] [--scope=<scope>] [--network] [--all-tables-with-prefix] [--all-tables] [--format=<format>]

Options & Flags

Flag	Default	Description
TABLE...	All tables	Specific table names to include in output
--scope=SCOPE	all	Filter: all, global, blog, old
--network	—	Include all tables for a multisite network
--all-tables-with-prefix	—	Include all tables matching the DB prefix
--all-tables	—	Include all tables regardless of prefix
--format=FORMAT	list	Output format: list, csv

Basic Usage

List all tables

wp db tables

Output:

wp_commentmeta
wp_comments
wp_links
wp_options
wp_postmeta
wp_posts
wp_term_relationships
wp_term_taxonomy
wp_termmeta
wp_terms
wp_usermeta
wp_users

CSV output

wp db tables --format=csv

List only global (non-blog) tables in multisite

wp db tables --scope=global

List all tables including non-WP tables

wp db tables --all-tables

Real-World Scenarios

Scenario 1: Audit leftover tables from removed plugins

# List all tables
wp db tables --all-tables-with-prefix

# Compare against expected core tables
# Anything not in the core list is from plugins
# Remove with: wp db query "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS wp_abandoned_plugin_table;"

Scenario 2: Export only core WordPress tables (exclude plugin tables)

CORE_TABLES=$(wp db tables --scope=blog --format=csv)
wp db export core_only.sql --tables="${CORE_TABLES}"

Scenario 3: Verify tables exist after import

wp db import dump.sql

# Check expected tables are present
EXPECTED=("wp_posts" "wp_users" "wp_options")
for table in "${EXPECTED[@]}"; do
  if wp db tables | grep -q "^${table}$"; then
    echo "✅ ${table} exists"
  else
    echo "❌ ${table} MISSING"
  fi
done

Scenario 4: Multisite — list all network tables

wp db tables --network --scope=all --format=csv

Scenario 5: Count total tables

TOTAL=$(wp db tables | wc -l)
echo "Total tables: ${TOTAL}"

WordPress Core Table Reference

Table	Purpose
wp_posts	Posts, pages, attachments, revisions
wp_postmeta	Post metadata (custom fields)
wp_comments	Comments
wp_commentmeta	Comment metadata
wp_terms	Tags, categories, custom taxonomy terms
wp_term_taxonomy	Term taxonomy mappings
wp_term_relationships	Post-to-term relationships
wp_termmeta	Term metadata
wp_options	Site configuration and plugin settings
wp_users	User accounts
wp_usermeta	User metadata (roles, capabilities, profile data)
wp_links	Deprecated blogroll links

Best Practices

1. Use --all-tables to discover leftover tables from deactivated plugins.
2. Always verify tables after import to confirm the dump was complete.
3. Use output in scripts to dynamically target tables for export or query operations.
4. Clean up stale tables from removed plugins to reduce DB size.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
Fewer tables than expected	Table prefix mismatch	Use --all-tables to view all
Extra unexpected tables	Plugin remnants	Identify and drop orphaned tables
Empty output	Wrong WordPress root	Use --path=/var/www/html

Quick Reference

wp db tables                               # List all tables
wp db tables --format=csv                  # CSV format
wp db tables --scope=global                # Global tables only
wp db tables --all-tables                  # All DB tables regardless of prefix
wp db tables | wc -l                       # Count tables

Next Steps

• wp db export — use table list to target specific tables for export.
• wp db query — run SQL against discovered tables.
• wp db size — check the size of these tables.