single database, multiple domains

I’m late to this conversation, which I got to by a search. I want to use WP on a 2nd subdomain, having run WP on one for several years. When it comes time to edit the wp_config.php file, I read

// You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique prefix
$table_prefix = ‘wp_’; // Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!

But WHERE does the prefix go? Prefix to what? Am I to change the name to wp_newprefix_config.php? DO I need to have two wp_config files uploaded to my root directory? Or is there some place within the existing wp_config.php file where I need to change and/or add a new line?

Please assume I’m stupid and spell it out. Getting the PhD used up a lot of brain cells.

Thanks bunches.

At this point I’m not expecting to have more than one additional WP site, so I’m guessing it may be easier, or at least less complicated, (?) if I were to do a 2nd install in the one database. (But if the multisite feature would be simpler, then I’ll be happy to do that.) Thanks!

Andrea_r thanks for the help so far.

So let me ask a clarifying question I think is related.

I want to be able to make a single post and be able to choose which websites (running WordPress) that post will appear on across multiple domains.

So for instance we have a main car-related website that covers all the car news for multiple car brands. I also have a number of individual websites on their own domains that cover specific brands of cars. So if I need to run a press release about a Volkswagen I would like it to appear on the main site and also on our Volkswagen-specific website (on a separate domain) using just one main control panel.

Is that possible through some combination of either WordPress on a single database or WordPress Multisite and/or plug-ins?

Thanks in advance for all the help!

-j

f you;re only going to do a second install in the same database, you need to set up a second folder with all the wordpress files in it.

Then when you go to do the regualr install, just fill in a different db table prefix. instead of wp_, pick wp2_ for example. then install as usual.

Andrea, thanks for the response. Between the time I posted my original question and now I had a medical emergency and am still on some thought-impeding drugs, so I’m more fuzzy-brained than usual. I need to be a pain in the neck and ask you to be more specific.

When you say I need to set up a second folder with the wordpress files in it, do I need to give a particular name to it, or to any of the files in it? Am I uploading the entire folder during installation, or only files in the folder? As for designating a new db table prefix, is that something I’ll be prompted to do during installation? I’m lost here.

FYI, I’m transferring files by a stand-alone FTP client. Using cpanel and MySQL Databases, I have only one active database–the current wordpress db, designated wrdp1. Am I going to install wordpress again alongside the original, or does the second installation happen within the original?

Sorry to be a pain, but I’m losing track of what I’m supposed to do, shifting from this page to the install page to cpanel to ftp and the different directories among them. I would appreciate as much of a step-by-step instruction list as you can do.

Thanks tons–

Deb