How to empty Category trash?

  • Resolved inge12

    (@inge12)


    13 years, 1 month ago

    My host runs CPanel on an Apache server.

    I can’t use my preferred category slugs because they were used earlier and then deleted, but my WP install doesn’t recognize the deletion, insisting the slugs are still in use.

    In another thread here Esmi suggested emptying the Category trash, but I have no clue as to how to do it.

    I can access the site via FTP (Filezilla)

    Could someone please explain how to delete the old category names from the database? (I need explicit instructions re how to access the database. Right now I can see only the files for the execution of WordPress, not the data I put in — such as posts and category names.

    Please help!

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Doug

    (@douglascox)

    13 years, 1 month ago

    If you’ve deleted the categories from your list, that should be enough, as to my knowledge there is no category trash, as there is for posts or pages. You could check your database to see if the related entries are still in the wp_terms table.

    To access you database, you need to use phpMyAdmin (should be on your host’s control panel) and login to your WordPress database (DB username and password will be listed in your wp-config.php file — THIS IS NOT YOUR AUTHOR ACCOUNT). Once in you database, you’ll see a list of tables. Go to the wp_terms table, and look for the related entries. NOTE: the wp_terms table contains more than just post categories — it may also contain link categories and tags, so be careful with what you delete.

    See http://codex.wordpress.org/Database_Description for detailed information on database components.

    Thread Starter inge12

    (@inge12)

    13 years, 1 month ago

    Thank you so much, Douglas! This information was exactly what I was looking for!

    Now I have another question: It seems that tags are kept in the “terms” database, along with categories. So I cannot have the same tag on a post as a category name.

    Am I understanding this correctly?

    Or does it work to create a category and then use the same tag for a post?

    Come to think of it, if I use the correct cat, I won’t need the same tag, will I?

    Again, thanks so much for the help. If you can clarify further, that would be lovely.

    Doug

    (@douglascox)

    13 years, 1 month ago

    You’re correct — because they’re stored in the same table, categories and tags should not have the same names or slugs.

    Thread Starter inge12

    (@inge12)

    13 years, 1 month ago

    Thanks again for your very helpful posts.

    I trust that this will be helpful for others as well.

    Moderator Kathryn Presner

    (@zoonini)

    13 years, 1 month ago

    If you would please mark this thread as “resolved” it would be appreciated. Helps everyone keep better track of whose issues are still outstanding. Thanks!

    Thread Starter inge12

    (@inge12)

    13 years, 1 month ago

    Thought I’d done that! I’ll try again ..

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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