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manifest / utilities / url-usage-finder

URL Usage Finder

Find and replace URL usage in posts, meta, menus, and options.

by Dmitry Shutko · github.com/shoot56/url-usage-finder · website

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Install

No release zip yet. The repository archive installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow:

wp plugin install https://github.com/shoot56/url-usage-finder/archive/refs/heads/main.zip

Declares an update source (shoot56/url-usage-finder), so updates arrive through the plugin's own updater.

Readme

URL Usage Finder

WordPress plugin to find and safely replace URL usage across multiple data sources.

Features

  • Search by exact URL match in:
    • post_content
    • post_excerpt
    • post_meta (including ACF values stored in post meta)
    • navigation menu item meta (nav_menu_item)
    • wp_options (excluding transients by default)
  • Result table with:
    • source type
    • object label
    • field/meta key
    • element hint (link, image, button, raw_text)
    • context snippet
    • edit link when available
  • Pagination for large result sets (50 rows per page).
  • CSV export for the current search results.
  • Dry-run preview before replacement (Before / After).
  • Safe selected-row replacement only (no bulk blind overwrite).

Installation

  1. Copy plugin folder to:
    • wp-content/plugins/url-usage-finder
  2. In WordPress admin, activate:
    • URL Usage Finder
  3. Open:
    • Tools -> URL Usage Finder

Usage

  1. Enter Old URL.
  2. Select search sources.
  3. Click Find URL Usage.
  4. Review matches and select rows.
  5. Enter New URL.
  6. Click Preview Selected (Dry Run) to inspect planned changes.
  7. Click Replace Selected to apply updates.
  8. Optionally click Export CSV to download results.

Data Handling

  • Replacements are executed only for selected rows.
  • post_content / post_excerpt updates are done via wp_update_post().
  • Post meta updates are done via update_post_meta().
  • Option updates are done via update_option().
  • Arrays and objects are handled with recursive string replacement to preserve structure.

Security

  • Admin capability required: manage_options.
  • All write actions protected by nonces.
  • Search SQL uses $wpdb->prepare() and $wpdb->esc_like().
  • Output is escaped in admin rendering.

Notes and Limitations

  • Search is exact-string based for the entered URL.
  • Element detection is heuristic and best-effort.
  • For very large databases, initial search may still take time depending on host performance.
  • CSV export uses current stored search results for the current admin user session.

Changelog

0.1.2

  • Preserve percent-encoded URL input during search.
  • Add encoded, decoded, and lowercase percent-encoding URL variants.

0.1.1

  • Improved URL variant matching and boundary handling.
  • Unified search and replacement matching logic.
  • Temporarily disabled replacement UI and handlers by default.

0.1.0

  • Initial release.
  • Multi-source URL search.
  • Selected-row replace.
  • Pagination.
  • CSV export.
  • Dry-run diff preview.

Read the full README on GitHub →