# Update WordPress URL in MySQL & WP-CLI Without Breaking Serialized Data

> How to safely update your WordPress domain URL in MySQL using SQL transactions or WP-CLI search-replace without corrupting PHP serialized options.

- Canonical URL: <https://carlossura.com/blog/update-wordpress-url-in-mysql/>
- Author: Carlos Sura
- Published: 2019-09-11
- Updated: 2026-10-20
- Tags: linux, wordpress, mysql, sql, dba

Migrating a **WordPress** site to a new domain or switching from `http://` to `https://` requires updating hardcoded URLs stored across core MySQL tables (`wp_options`, `wp_posts`, and `wp_postmeta`).

Below are both the direct MySQL transaction queries and the safer **WP-CLI** approach that preserves PHP serialized arrays.

---

## Method 1: Direct MySQL Queries (Transaction-Safe)

For simple sites that do not store domain URLs inside length-prefixed PHP serialized strings in `wp_options` or `wp_postmeta`, run the following `REPLACE()` statements inside a SQL transaction after taking a full `mysqldump` backup:

```sql
START TRANSACTION;

-- Update core siteurl and home options
UPDATE wp_options
SET option_value = REPLACE(option_value, 'https://olddomain.com', 'https://newdomain.com')
WHERE option_name IN ('home', 'siteurl');

-- Update hardcoded links and media URLs inside post content
UPDATE wp_posts
SET post_content = REPLACE(post_content, 'https://olddomain.com', 'https://newdomain.com');

-- Update postmeta values (skip serialized strings if domain lengths differ)
UPDATE wp_postmeta
SET meta_value = REPLACE(meta_value, 'https://olddomain.com', 'https://newdomain.com')
WHERE meta_value NOT LIKE 'a:%' AND meta_value NOT LIKE 'O:%';

-- Only update GUIDs when migrating a staging/development site to production for the first time
UPDATE wp_posts
SET guid = REPLACE(guid, 'https://olddomain.com', 'https://newdomain.com');

COMMIT;
```

---

## Why Raw SQL `REPLACE()` Can Corrupt PHP Serialized Data

WordPress themes, widgets, and page builders frequently store settings as **serialized PHP strings** in `wp_options` and `wp_postmeta`, where every string includes its exact byte length:

```text
s:21:"https://olddomain.com";
```

If `https://olddomain.com` (21 bytes) is replaced via raw SQL with `https://my-new-domain.com` (25 bytes), the byte prefix remains `s:21:`, causing PHP's `unserialize()` to fail and resetting widget or theme configurations.

---

## Method 2: Recommended Production Approach with WP-CLI

[**WP-CLI**](https://wp-cli.org/) includes `wp search-replace`, which automatically deserializes PHP objects, replaces the domain string, recalculates byte lengths, and re-serializes the data safely:

```bash
# Preview all replacements first with --dry-run
wp search-replace 'https://olddomain.com' 'https://newdomain.com' --all-tables --dry-run

# Execute the replacement and flush object cache
wp search-replace 'https://olddomain.com' 'https://newdomain.com' --all-tables --precise
wp cache flush
```