It is very handy to have a possibility to duplicate posts in WordPress when you work with a lot of similar posts. Especially if the posts have the same custom fields values.

Custom fields

It means that you do not have to re-enter custom fields, post tags and categories each time.

Below on the screenshot you can see what we are going to create in this tutorial. And one more thing – we are going to duplicate posts programmatically.

This is enough easy to do, so, look at the following code, insert it into your current or child theme functions.php file or your own custom plugin.

// Add the duplicate link to action list for post_row_actions
// for "post" and custom post types
add_filter( 'post_row_actions', 'rd_duplicate_post_link', 10, 2 );
// for "page" post type
add_filter( 'page_row_actions', 'rd_duplicate_post_link', 10, 2 );


function rd_duplicate_post_link( $actions, $post ) {

	if( ! current_user_can( 'edit_posts' ) ) {
		return $actions;
	}

	$url = wp_nonce_url(
		add_query_arg(
			array(
				'action' => 'rd_duplicate_post_as_draft',
				'post' => $post->ID,
			),
			'admin.php'
		),
		basename(__FILE__),
		'duplicate_nonce'
	);

	$actions[ 'duplicate' ] = '<a href="' . $url . '" title="Duplicate this item" rel="permalink">Duplicate</a>';

	return $actions;
}

/*
 * Function creates post duplicate as a draft and redirects then to the edit post screen
 */
add_action( 'admin_action_rd_duplicate_post_as_draft', 'rd_duplicate_post_as_draft' );

function rd_duplicate_post_as_draft(){

	// check if post ID has been provided and action
	if ( empty( $_GET[ 'post' ] ) ) {
		wp_die( 'No post to duplicate has been provided!' );
	}

	// Nonce verification
	if ( ! isset( $_GET[ 'duplicate_nonce' ] ) || ! wp_verify_nonce( $_GET[ 'duplicate_nonce' ], basename( __FILE__ ) ) ) {
		return;
	}

	// Get the original post id
	$post_id = absint( $_GET[ 'post' ] );

	// And all the original post data then
	$post = get_post( $post_id );

	/*
	 * if you don't want current user to be the new post author,
	 * then change next couple of lines to this: $new_post_author = $post->post_author;
	 */
	$current_user = wp_get_current_user();
	$new_post_author = $current_user->ID;

	// if post data exists (I am sure it is, but just in a case), create the post duplicate
	if ( $post ) {

		// new post data array
		$args = array(
			'comment_status' => $post->comment_status,
			'ping_status'    => $post->ping_status,
			'post_author'    => $new_post_author,
			'post_content'   => $post->post_content,
			'post_excerpt'   => $post->post_excerpt,
			'post_name'      => $post->post_name,
			'post_parent'    => $post->post_parent,
			'post_password'  => $post->post_password,
			'post_status'    => 'draft',
			'post_title'     => $post->post_title,
			'post_type'      => $post->post_type,
			'to_ping'        => $post->to_ping,
			'menu_order'     => $post->menu_order
		);

		// insert the post by wp_insert_post() function
		$new_post_id = wp_insert_post( $args );

		/*
		 * get all current post terms ad set them to the new post draft
		 */
		$taxonomies = get_object_taxonomies( get_post_type( $post ) ); // returns array of taxonomy names for post type, ex array("category", "post_tag");
		if( $taxonomies ) {
			foreach ( $taxonomies as $taxonomy ) {
				$post_terms = wp_get_object_terms( $post_id, $taxonomy, array( 'fields' => 'slugs' ) );
				wp_set_object_terms( $new_post_id, $post_terms, $taxonomy, false );
			}
		}

		// duplicate all post meta
		$post_meta = get_post_meta( $post_id );
		if( $post_meta ) {

			foreach ( $post_meta as $meta_key => $meta_values ) {

				if( '_wp_old_slug' == $meta_key ) { // do nothing for this meta key
					continue;
				}

				foreach ( $meta_values as $meta_value ) {
					add_post_meta( $new_post_id, $meta_key, $meta_value );
				}
			}
		}

		// finally, redirect to the edit post screen for the new draft
		// wp_safe_redirect(
		// 	add_query_arg(
		// 		array(
		// 			'action' => 'edit',
		// 			'post' => $new_post_id
		// 		),
		// 		admin_url( 'post.php' )
		// 	)
		// );
		// exit;
		// or we can redirect to all posts with a message
		wp_safe_redirect(
			add_query_arg(
				array(
					'post_type' => ( 'post' !== get_post_type( $post ) ? get_post_type( $post ) : false ),
					'saved' => 'post_duplication_created' // just a custom slug here
				),
				admin_url( 'edit.php' )
			)
		);
		exit;

	} else {
		wp_die( 'Post creation failed, could not find original post.' );
	}

}

/*
 * In case we decided to add admin notices
 */
add_action( 'admin_notices', 'rudr_duplication_admin_notice' );

function rudr_duplication_admin_notice() {

	// Get the current screen
	$screen = get_current_screen();

	if ( 'edit' !== $screen->base ) {
		return;
	}

    //Checks if settings updated
    if ( isset( $_GET[ 'saved' ] ) && 'post_duplication_created' == $_GET[ 'saved' ] ) {

		 echo '<div class="notice notice-success is-dismissible"><p>Post copy created.</p></div>';
		 
    }
}

And now some comments about this code:

  • If you’re interested only in how to duplicate a page in WordPress without plugin, it is enough for you to use page_row_actions filter hook (line 11), if you’re interested in duplicating posts and custom post types, post_row_actions is for you (line 9).
  • In the code you can also find some security checks, I am using Nonces and clean $_GET[ 'post' ] with absint() function.
  • In line 71-85 you can change post data for you needs. For example we clone posts as drafts, but you can set a publish post status.
  • In line 107-109 we prevent copying meta with key _wp_old_slug, it is important to prevent redirects.