Streamlining WordPress Post Duplication Without Plugins

Tired of manually recreating similar posts in WordPress? This guide provides a code snippet to effortlessly duplicate posts, pages, and custom post types, saving you valuable time and effort.

The Power of Programmatic Duplication

Imagine this: you’ve crafted a well-structured post with meticulously chosen categories, tags, and custom fields. Now, you need a similar post, but recreating everything from scratch feels like a chore.

That’s where this code snippet comes in. By adding it to your theme’s functions.php file or a custom plugin, you unlock a powerful “Duplicate” link right in your WordPress admin interface.

How It Works

The code leverages WordPress’s built-in functions and hooks:

• Adding the Duplicate Link: The post_row_actions and page_row_actions filters add a “Duplicate” link to the list of actions for each post or page.
• Handling the Duplication: The technt_duplicate_post_as_draft function takes care of the magic. It fetches the original post data, creates a draft copy, and sets the current user as the author.
• Copying Taxonomies and Metadata: The code meticulously copies all associated categories, tags, and custom fields to ensure a true duplicate.
• Security Measures: Nonces are employed for security, and the absint() function sanitizes input to prevent vulnerabilities.
• Redirect & Notification: Upon successful duplication, you’re redirected back to the post list with a success message.

Customization Options

You can tweak the code to:

• Change post status: Instead of “draft,” you can set the duplicated post to “publish” or any other status.
• Modify author: If you don’t want the current user as the new post’s author, adjust the code to assign the original author or another user.
• Exclude specific metadata: The code prevents copying the _wp_old_slug meta key to avoid redirects. You can exclude other metadata as needed.

Code

-> Add to filefunctions.php

// Add the duplicate link to action list for post_row_actions
// for "post" and custom post types
add_filter( 'post_row_actions', 'technt_duplicate_post_link', 10, 2 );
// for "page" post type
add_filter( 'page_row_actions', 'technt_duplicate_post_link', 10, 2 );

function technt_duplicate_post_link( $actions, $post ) {

if( ! current_user_can( 'edit_posts' ) ) {
return $actions;
}

$url = wp_nonce_url(
add_query_arg(
array(
'action' => 'technt_duplicate_post_as_draft',
'post' => $post->ID,
),
'admin.php'
),
basename(__FILE__),
'duplicate_nonce'
);

$actions[ 'duplicate' ] = '<a href="' . $url . '" title="Duplicate this item" rel="permalink">Duplicate</a>';

return $actions;
}

/*
 * Function creates post duplicate as a draft and redirects then to the edit post screen
 */add_action( 'admin_action_technt_duplicate_post_as_draft', 'technt_duplicate_post_as_draft' );

function technt_duplicate_post_as_draft(){

// check if post ID has been provided and action
if ( empty( $_GET[ 'post' ] ) ) {
wp_die( 'No post to duplicate has been provided!' );
}

// Nonce verification
if ( ! isset( $_GET[ 'duplicate_nonce' ] ) || ! wp_verify_nonce( $_GET[ 'duplicate_nonce' ], basename( __FILE__ ) ) ) {
return;
}

// Get the original post id
$post_id = absint( $_GET[ 'post' ] );

// And all the original post data then
$post = get_post( $post_id );

/*
 * if you don't want current user to be the new post author,
 * then change next couple of lines to this: $new_post_author = $post->post_author;
 */$current_user = wp_get_current_user();
$new_post_author = $current_user->ID;

// if post data exists (I am sure it is, but just in a case), create the post duplicate
if ( $post ) {

// new post data array
$args = array(
'comment_status' => $post->comment_status,
'ping_status'    => $post->ping_status,
'post_author'    => $new_post_author,
'post_content'   => $post->post_content,
'post_excerpt'   => $post->post_excerpt,
'post_name'      => $post->post_name,
'post_parent'    => $post->post_parent,
'post_password'  => $post->post_password,
'post_status'    => 'draft',
'post_title'     => $post->post_title,
'post_type'      => $post->post_type,
'to_ping'        => $post->to_ping,
'menu_order'     => $post->menu_order
);

// insert the post by wp_insert_post() function
$new_post_id = wp_insert_post( $args );

/*
 * get all current post terms ad set them to the new post draft
 */$taxonomies = get_object_taxonomies( get_post_type( $post ) ); // returns array of taxonomy names for post type, ex array("category", "post_tag");
if( $taxonomies ) {
foreach ( $taxonomies as $taxonomy ) {
$post_terms = wp_get_object_terms( $post_id, $taxonomy, array( 'fields' => 'slugs' ) );
wp_set_object_terms( $new_post_id, $post_terms, $taxonomy, false );
}
}

// duplicate all post meta
$post_meta = get_post_meta( $post_id );
if( $post_meta ) {

foreach ( $post_meta as $meta_key => $meta_values ) {

if( '_wp_old_slug' == $meta_key ) { // do nothing for this meta key
continue;
}

foreach ( $meta_values as $meta_value ) {
add_post_meta( $new_post_id, $meta_key, $meta_value );
}
}
}

// finally, redirect to the edit post screen for the new draft
// wp_safe_redirect(
// add_query_arg(
// array(
// 'action' => 'edit',
// 'post' => $new_post_id
// ),
// admin_url( 'post.php' )
// )
// );
// exit;

wp_safe_redirect(
add_query_arg(
array(
'post_type' => ( 'post' !== get_post_type( $post ) ? get_post_type( $post ) : false ),
'saved' => 'post_duplication_created' // just a custom slug here
),
admin_url( 'edit.php' )
)
);
exit;

} else {
wp_die( 'Post creation failed, could not find original post.' );
}

}

/*
 * In case we decided to add admin notices
 */add_action( 'admin_notices', 'technt_net_duplication_admin_notice' );

function technt_net_duplication_admin_notice() {

// Get the current screen
$screen = get_current_screen();

if ( 'edit' !== $screen->base ) {
return;
}

    //Checks if settings updated
    if ( isset( $_GET[ 'saved' ] ) && 'post_duplication_created' == $_GET[ 'saved' ] ) {

 echo '<div class="notice notice-success is-dismissible"><p>Post copy created.</p></div>';
 
    }
}

This code snippet empowers you to streamline your WordPress workflow, allowing for quick and efficient duplication of posts, pages, and custom post types, all without relying on external plugins. Say goodbye to tedious manual recreations!

Shortlink: /YAdQmb6I