A plugin created lots of posts that I now need to delete. They are targetable by category (e.g. Tweet). Many also have attached images.

I wrote a php script for it*, but without pagination it gets hung up, as it does a lot of work (deletes the posts one by one).

I figure a good database query could select and delete multiple posts at the same time - however I also want to delete all attached media, both in the database and the actual files.

Alternatively, handling the deletions in batches (i.e. using pagination) and maybe flush output in between to show update on whether it's working could work.

*here's what I have so far:

$twitter = get_cat_ID( 'Tweet' );
$instagram = get_cat_ID( 'Instagram' );
$args = array(
    'category__in' => array(
        $twitter,
        $instagram
    ),
    'post_status' => 'any',
    'posts_per_page' => 1000
);
$social_posts = new WP_Query( $args );

if ( $social_posts->have_posts() ) : ?>

    <h1>Deleting the following:</h1>
    <ul>
    <?php while ( $social_posts->have_posts() ) :
        $social_posts->the_post();
    ?>
        <li>
            <h5><?php the_title() ?></h5>
            <div class='post-content'><?php the_content(); ?></div>
        </li>
        <?php
        $post_id = get_the_ID();
        $attachments = get_attached_media( '', $post_id ); // '' => all attachment Mime types
        foreach ( $attachments as $attachment ) {
            wp_delete_attachment( $attachment->ID, true );
        }
        wp_delete_post( $post_id, true );
    endwhile;
else: ?>
    <p>Oops, there are no posts.</p>
<?php
endif;

(Testing this locally, put it in page-uninstall-social.php and created a page for it so it runs when I visit that page)

A plugin created lots of posts that I now need to delete. They are targetable by category (e.g. Tweet). Many also have attached images.

I wrote a php script for it*, but without pagination it gets hung up, as it does a lot of work (deletes the posts one by one). - And with pagination (say 1000 per page) it still takes multiple seconds and I'd have to refresh >50 times...

I figure a good database query could select and delete multiple posts at the same time - however I also want to delete all attached media, both in the database and the actual files.

Alternatively, handling the deletions in batches (i.e. using pagination) and maybe flush output in between to show update on whether it's working could work.

*here's what I have so far:

$twitter = get_cat_ID( 'Tweet' );
$instagram = get_cat_ID( 'Instagram' );
$args = array(
    'category__in' => array(
        $twitter,
        $instagram
    ),
    'post_status' => 'any',
    'posts_per_page' => 1000
);
$social_posts = new WP_Query( $args );

if ( $social_posts->have_posts() ) : ?>

    <h1>Deleting the following:</h1>
    <ul>
    <?php while ( $social_posts->have_posts() ) :
        $social_posts->the_post();
    ?>
        <li>
            <h5><?php the_title() ?></h5>
            <div class='post-content'><?php the_content(); ?></div>
        </li>
        <?php
        $post_id = get_the_ID();
        $attachments = get_attached_media( '', $post_id ); // '' => all attachment Mime types
        foreach ( $attachments as $attachment ) {
            wp_delete_attachment( $attachment->ID, true );
        }
        wp_delete_post( $post_id, true );
    endwhile;
else: ?>
    <p>Oops, there are no posts.</p>
<?php
endif;

(Testing this locally, put it in page-uninstall-social.php and created a page for it so it runs when I visit that page)