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I have exported all my content to WordPress XML file via WordPress>Tools>Export as I needed to edit 300 posts at a time. Now, my concern is how to re import the file to override the default one? By re-importing the file via WordPress Tools it does only import new posts, so it's not adapted to that particular case without breaking my site/database. I need to find a way to re import the file.

Any suggestion is appreciated.

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  • Have you considered just doing it in a different way? What is your issue with editing in first place?
    – Rarst
    Jan 9, 2014 at 16:19
  • Do you mean editing 200 to 300 posts html source code on WordPress dashboard by going to every single post?
    – user3001925
    Jan 9, 2014 at 16:29
  • What are you trying to edit in first place?
    – markratledge
    Jan 9, 2014 at 16:48
  • I mean there are tools for changing data in database, etc. Clearly import/export approach is problematic for your use case, but it's hard to say what would work better without understanding of what your use case is precisely.
    – Rarst
    Jan 9, 2014 at 16:57
  • What I need to edit is the source Html code of each post. For example removing the 'text-align: justify' inside the blockquote, correcting some duplicate tags, removing old shortcodes, editing some characters from uppercase to small caps, etc...
    – user3001925
    Jan 9, 2014 at 17:03

2 Answers 2

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What do you need to edit and why can't you edit in the WP editor?

Can you use Search RegEx? It's a plugin to search and replace with grep and regular expressions through content.

If you need to develop a regex search string to find certain content, check https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/regex

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  • I'm changing of template and need to edit the source code for each post to match with the new template.
    – user3001925
    Jan 9, 2014 at 17:04
  • That plugin will edit all posts at once, with grep, if needed.
    – markratledge
    Jan 9, 2014 at 17:09
  • I need to remove text align justify inside all the blockquote + every tag like <i> or <em> and remove the closing tags </p>. It's not just a search/replace process, I'm not sure this plugin will do the trick. Using Notepad++ you can do the job in one click for all the template.
    – user3001925
    Jan 9, 2014 at 17:16
  • Also, need to find a way to remove extra/redundant formatting tags
    – user3001925
    Jan 9, 2014 at 17:26
  • Yes, it will. You can do all that with grep. But grep is not specific to WordPress. Check stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/regex
    – markratledge
    Jan 9, 2014 at 18:39
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If you really need to do this, then you'll have to delete the existing posts completely - ie 'Bin' them, and then Empty the bin/trash. You'll then be able to import the WXR file via Tools | Import.

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  • Yes, Anu makes an important point that needs highlighting: in my experience, if you do not empty (those posts from) the trash, WP sees those posts as still existing, and thus will not import them.
    – SherylHohman
    Jan 28, 2021 at 3:22

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