Title: Auto-remove category from posts.
Last modified: August 19, 2016

---

# Auto-remove category from posts.

 *  Resolved [Stef](https://wordpress.org/support/users/stef78/)
 * (@stef78)
 * [15 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/auto-remove-category-from-posts/)
 * I have a lot of posts filled under catetory A and category B.
    I’m trying to 
   get all these posts **only** filled under category A. Is there some kind of hack
   for that? To auto-remove category B from all these posts? Thank you.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  [Mark / t31os](https://wordpress.org/support/users/t31os_/)
 * (@t31os_)
 * [15 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/auto-remove-category-from-posts/#post-1582479)
 * You could run a couple of custom queries to do it.
 * Something like..
 * Grab the posts that have both those categories first. (MySQL query for use in
   PhpMyAdmin or similar, can convert to a query that will run in your theme or 
   plugin if you prefer).
 *     ```
       SELECT ID from wp_posts p
        JOIN wp_term_relationships tr1 ON tr1.object_id = p.ID
        JOIN wp_term_taxonomy t1 ON t1.term_taxonomy_id = tr1.term_taxonomy_id
        JOIN wp_term_relationships tr2 ON tr2.object_id = p.ID
        JOIN wp_term_taxonomy t2 ON t2.term_taxonomy_id = tr2.term_taxonomy_id
       WHERE
        t1.term_id = 3
       AND
        t2.term_id = 4
       AND
        p.post_type = 'post'
       AND
        p.post_status = 'publish'
       ```
   
 * 3 and 4 are example category IDs.
 * Confirm the IDs in the result match the correct posts(check 3 or 4 of the IDs,
   just to make sure you’re getting accurate data back, should be fine, it worked
   correctly in my very limited testing).
 * If they do, take a copy of the IDs.
 * Run another query to remove the necessary relationships from the DB, using the
   IDs procured earlier.
 *     ```
       DELETE tr.* FROM wp_term_relationships tr
       JOIN wp_term_taxonomy tt ON tt.term_taxonomy_id = tr.term_taxonomy_id
       WHERE tt.term_id = 4 AND tr.object_id IN( 300,301,302 )
       ```
   
 * In the above 4 is the ID of the category we’re removing from posts.
    `300,301,302`
   is a comma seperated list of post IDs (the IDs obtained earlier should go here
   though – comma seperated).
 * I can convert the above into `$wpdb` queries if you want to run it from one of
   your WordPress pages, else PhpMyAdmin or similar should do.
 * **NOTE: **I assumed a default db table prefix in the above examples. I also gave
   example IDs, so be sure to update them. And of course… **BACKUP your data first**
   before attempting to run any of the queries (if something gets messed up you’ll
   need to know how to restore the database, and have a backup ready).
 * **Additional note: **It might actually be smart to make a copy of your existing
   database, give the new copied database any name you like (it’s a copy it won’t
   matter), then run the queries on the copy (that way, if any damage done, it’s
   not on your live database).
 *  [conorp](https://wordpress.org/support/users/conorp/)
 * (@conorp)
 * [15 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/auto-remove-category-from-posts/#post-1582488)
 * If you go to your posts screen (wp-admin/edit.php) you can specify which categories
   to show: [http://img.skitch.com/20100714-1x6yiqfygyiwamx2fb7yr4w7gb.jpg](http://img.skitch.com/20100714-1x6yiqfygyiwamx2fb7yr4w7gb.jpg)
 * You can then bulk edit them all and change the category to category A.
 * If that makes sense 🙂
 *  [Mark / t31os](https://wordpress.org/support/users/t31os_/)
 * (@t31os_)
 * [15 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/auto-remove-category-from-posts/#post-1582510)
 * If we’re talking about a handful of posts, then certainly yes, bulk edit would
   be easier and safer.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Auto-remove category from posts.’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [categories](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/categories/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 3 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Mark / t31os](https://wordpress.org/support/users/t31os_/)
 * Last activity: [15 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/auto-remove-category-from-posts/#post-1582510)
 * Status: resolved

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