Sometimes a WordPress website is so corrupt, one might assume it’s beyond repair and it may be time to wipe off the slate and start from scratch.
Hold that thought for a minute.
Here’s how to test it out. Type a simple command like this and wp-cli hangs with no output.
wp option get siteurl
Nothing… nada… zilch…
It’s time to start cleaning.
First thing is to clean up WordPress core.
You’ll need access to SSH/bash to follow this guide. If that’s not possible, your next best option is to use FTP or a file manager to delete the wp-admin and wp-includes folders and then re-upload them.
If you’re still with us, let’s prepare a workspace. Assuming you’re in the root of your WordPress installation, execute the following commands to create and enter a directory named cleanup:
mkdir cleanup
cd cleanup
Now, adapt the following command to match your installation needs:
wp core download --force --skip-content --locale=nl_NL --version=6.4.3
Next, we’ll execute what we like to call the “nuke” command. This will remove the existing WordPress core directories and replace them with clean versions. This deletes WordPress core and your site will be dead for a few microseconds. Beware, you’ve been warned!
rm -rvf ../wp-admin && rm -rvf ../wp-includes && cp -rv wp-admin ../ && wp -rv wp-includes ../ && cp -rv wp-content ../ && cp ./* ../
This nuke command will remove WordPress core and reinstate the clean WordPress core files.
Voilà! You’re almost done. This process reinstates clean WordPress core files, setting a strong foundation for further troubleshooting and malware scanning.
Let’s remove the temporary folder that we created.
cd ..
rm -rv cleanup