Using wp-cli commands to create and import WordPress databases

You can use wp-cli to do a number of tasks around the WordPress database including creation and importing, below are a few commands and what they do.

Remove all existing WordPress tables

wp db reset

This will remove all existing WordPress tables and leave the db empty, but you still have a db.

Delete the WordPress database

wp db drop

This will delete the actual database.

Create a new WordPress database

wp db create

This will create a brand new database.

Import a WordPress database

wp db import awordpressdb.sql

This will import a database.

Export a WordPress database

wp db export

This will export a database.

Search and replace text strings in the database

wp search-replace 'find-word' 'replace-word' --dry-run

wp search-replace 'find-word' 'replace-word' 

So the search and replace can be done with a –dry-run parameter which won’t make any permanent change, run without it to make the change. This is a great command to change the WordPress site url.

Optimize a WordPress database

wp db optimize

This will optimize a WordPress database.

Repair a WordPress database

wp db repair

This will repair a WordPress database.

Check database size in mb

wp db size --size_format=mb

Check the database size can use also a number of size parameters including kb, gb etc

More info on wp-cli WordPress DB commands also you can do many things with wp-cli including changing the WordPress installation version.