How to use delete_post action in WordPress

delete_post action

Fires immediately before a post is deleted from the database.

To use the delete_post action, first, you have to register it using add_action. You can write this code into functions.php of your activated theme or in a custom WordPress Plugin.

We at WePlugins always prefer to create a custom WordPress Plugin while using hooks so nothing breaks when you update your WordPress Theme in the future.

In the below live example, we have defined a function weplugins_execute_on_delete_post_event which takes 2 parameters and we registered using add_action. The first parameter delete_post is the name of the hook, the second parameter weplugins_execute_on_delete_post_event is the name of the function which needs to be called, the third parameter is the priority of calling the hook if the same hook is used multiple times, and the last parameter is the number of arguments (if any) to be passed in the registered function.

Sometimes, you have to remove a registered hook, so you can use remove_action to remove the delete_post action.

Parameters

Below are the 2 parameters required to use this hook.

• $postid: (int) Post ID.
• $post: (WP_Post) Post object.

Live Example

Example 1: Basic Usage

Below is an example of how you can use this hook.

    function weplugins_execute_on_delete_post_event($postid, $post){
       // You can write code here to be executed when this action occurs in WordPress.
       // Use the parameters received in the function arguments & implement the required additional custom functionality according to your website requirements.
    }
    // add the action
    add_action( "delete_post", "weplugins_execute_on_delete_post_event" , 10, 2);
    

Example 2: Sync with Custom Table

In this example, we synchronize the post deletion with a custom table.

    add_action( 'admin_init', 'weplugins_codex_init' );
    function weplugins_codex_init() {
        add_action( 'delete_post', 'weplugins_codex_sync', 10 );
    }
    function weplugins_codex_sync( $pid ) {
        global $wpdb;
        $query = $wpdb->prepare( 'SELECT post_id FROM codex_postmeta WHERE post_id = %d', $pid );
        $var = $wpdb->get_var( $query );
        if ( $var ) {
            // Add your custom sync logic here
        }
    }
    

Example 3: Removing a Hook Callback

To remove a hook callback, use the example below.

    remove_action( "delete_post", "weplugins_execute_on_delete_post_event", 10, 2 );
    

Please make sure to provide the same callback function name, priority, and number of arguments while removing the hook callback.

Contact Us

If you need any customization, feel free to contact us.