Edit Your Options from the WordPress Admin
Ever needed to update an option in your database without having to log into your control panel or phpMyAdmin? WordPress provides you with an easy way to view, edit and update your database options table (wp_options) by simply opening the following URL in your browser:
http://your-blog.com/wp-admin/options.phpEdit the URL with your domain name and hit the “Go” button in your browser to be taken to the “All Settings” page:
The WordPress “All Settings” PageOn this super-secret options page, you will find an editable, alphabetized list of all entries in your wp_options table, which is like the brain of your WordPress database that stores all of your blog’s personal settings, plugin options, and just about everything else that has to do with the customization of your site. So needless to say, it is really handy having access to all of these settings from the laid-back comfort of your own private WordPress Admin area.
The only thing that may kinda suck is that any database options that are serialized are “greyed out” and not available for viewing or editing (see the “active_plugins” setting in the screenshot above). Serialized options generally consist of multiple values entered as an array. A good example of this is the list of active plugins. It is more efficient to store such serialized data in a single field than it is to populate a hundred of them with similar values.
Having this options page available is a huge help and very thoughtful of the WordPress developers to include. Now, if we could only get our Post and Page IDs back ;)
About the author
Jeff Starr is a professional web developer and book author with over 15 years of experience. Jeff works with WordPress every day, designing themes, developing plugins, and securing sites. His books include Digging Into WordPress, WordPress Themes In Depth, and The Tao of WordPress.
11 responses
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HassanWow, Great post.. very nice to know that options.php thingy :)
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Chuck Reynoldsyeah good add by the devs. for the post id’s and stuff look at this mod.
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Jeff Starr Post AuthorThat will definitely do the job – will be great to have ID information during theme design and plugin development. Can always disable when not in use. Thanks.
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Zach DunnThat’s one of the most useful things I’ve learned about WordPress in the past month. They’ve really figured this stuff out well huh?
Thanks so much!
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Jeff Starr Post Author
Awesome, Zach – thanks for the feedback :)
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Doesn’t this give anyone in the world the ability to edit your settings and completely destroy your site?
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Jeff Starr Post Author
Hi Paul,
Actually, the WP Options Page described in the post is only accessible to logged in Administrators — anything less than Admin-level accounts do not have access.
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Ok, thanks! I love the quick response and great “service” for people’s questions.
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Husien AdelGreat Tutorial Man, First Time Notice That Trick :) thanks for Sharing
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Jeff Starr Post Author
Cool, glad to be of service, Husien — happy to have helped you with WordPress!
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ethnicommThanks for sharing this tip + screen cap.
