This article, written to accord with WordPress 2.3, 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 at Version 2.3.

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 2.3 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	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		0000-00-00 00:00:00
comment_content	text
comment_karma	int(11)		0
comment_approved	enum('0','1','spam')	IND	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

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	bigint(20)	IND	0	FK->wp_categories.cat_ID
link_description	varchar(255)
link_visible	enum('Y','N')	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)

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&IND
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_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

Table: wp_posts

Field	Type	Key	Default	Extra
ID	bigint(20) unsigned	PRI	NULL	auto_increment
post_author	bigint(20)		0	FK->wp_users.ID
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	FK->wp_categories.cat_ID
post_excerpt	text
post_status	enum('publish','draft','private','static','object','attachment','inherit','future')	IND	publish
comment_status	enum('open','closed','registered_only')		open
ping_status	enum('open','closed')		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)		post
post_mime_type	varchar(100)
comment_count	bigint(20)		0

Table: wp_terms

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

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

Table: wp_term_taxonomy

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

Table: wp_usermeta

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

Table: wp_users

Field	Type	Key	Default	Extra
ID	bigint(20) unsigned	PRI	NULL	auto_increment
user_login	varchar(60)	UNI & IND
user_pass	varchar(64)
user_nicename	varchar(50)
user_email	varchar(100)
user_url	varchar(100)
user_registered	datetime		0000-00-00 00:00:00
user_level	int(2) unsigned		0
user_activation_key	varchar(60)
user_status	int(11)		0
display_name	varchar(250)

Resources

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

WordPress.org

Codex

Database Description/2.3

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