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I came across the table name __wp_actionscheduler_actions in my WordPress database, and I noticed that there’s an underscore before ‘wp’. What is the purpose of the underscore and can I remove it, since there’s already a table named ‘wp_actionscheduler_actions’?

Is it safe for me to delete?

2

Answers


  1. I would highly recommend not removing it. Unless you know for certain that it is unnecessary, just leave it be. I did a little bit of research, and ‘wp_actionscheduler_actions’ is a table used by WordPress to schedule various things like running background tasks, sending emails, etc.

    You could reach out to WordPress support to see if they know why there are two different tables that seem to be the same/similar and whether or not it is safe to remove it. If you do decide to make any changes, be sure to make a backup so you avoid losing any data.

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  2. WordPress sites have, as a configuration variable, a table name prefix. The default is wp_, so you get tables with names like wp_users and wp_actionscheduler_actions. The prefix is a configuration variable so you can put multiple WordPress sites’ data in a single database. If somebody rigged that, you’ll see multiple prefixes, for example mysite_ and yoursite_ on tables.

    If the table with that strange __wp_ prefix is the only table in the database with that prefix, it’s unlikely to be an operational part of any WordPress site. Action Scheduler rigorously follows the tablename prefix convention.

    I’ve sometimes created copies of individual tables when trying to troubleshoot problems. I’ve sometimes forgotten to drop the copies when done. I would never use an underscore name prefix, but that’s just me.

    You can say

    SHOW TABLE STATUS tablename;
    

    and MySql will give you some information about the table, such as when it was created and possibly when it was most recently updated.

    If this were my site I’d rename the table to something distinctive.

    RENAME TABLE __wp_actionscheduler_actions TO drop_me
    

    Then I’d wait a week. If nothing goes wrong in that week, I’d then drop the table.

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