How can I UN-attach media from a post?

3 comments

1. I learned from Brian Fegter that you can Un-attach an image from a post while participating in this question:
   Can I attach an image to a different post?

   It isn’t exactly “simple”, but not to difficult. It’s the only solution I’ve been able to find.

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2. Is this what you’re looking for?

   e.g. Remove all image attachments from a post

   //get all image attachments
   $attachments = get_children( 
                       array(
                           'post_parent'       => $post->ID,
                           'post_mime_type'    => 'image',
                           'post_type'         => 'attachment'
                       ) 
                   );
   
   //loop through the array
   if( !empty( $attachments ) ){   
       foreach( $attachments as $attachment ){
           // Update the post into the database
             wp_update_post( array(
                       'ID' => $attachment->ID,
                       'post_parent' => 0
                   )
               );
       }
   }
   

   However, please take note of the caution when using wp_update_post.

   Alternate method using $wpdb

   //replace this with the above inside the foreach block;
   global $wpdb;
   $wpdb->query(
       "
       UPDATE $wpdb->posts 
       SET post_parent = 0
       WHERE ID = $attachment->id
           AND post_type = 'attachment'
       "
   );
   

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3. As of WordPress 4.2 this functionality is built in. Click the Detach link in media list view.

   For older versions, there’s a plugin which does the same thing: https://wordpress.org/plugins/unattach/

   Unattach is a very simple plugin which allows detaching images and other media from WordPress posts, pages and other content types.

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