Prevent duplicate posts in wp_insert_post using custom fields

5 comments

1. To save the link in the post meta you can use update_post_meta

   like this for example:

   $url = "http://sample.com/entertainment/default.aspx?tabid=2305&conid=102950"
   $my_post = array(
       'post_title' => "$title",
       'post_content' => "$content",
       'post_status' => 'draft',
       'post_author' => 1,
       'post_category' => array(1),
   );
   
   $post_id =  wp_insert_post( $my_post );
   update_post_meta($post_id,'source_link',$url);
   

   and to prevent the insertion add a simple conditional check:

   $args = array("meta_key" => "source_link", "meta_value" =>$url);
   $posts = get_posts($args);
   if (count($posts) < 0){
       //add new post
   }
   

   ---

   if (count($posts) < 0){
       //add new post
   }
   

   is not working, change it to

   if (empty($posts)){ 
       //add new post
   }
   

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2. That’s pretty strange issue which everyone will face especially if they call this function inside some loop <foreach> <for> <while> etc.

   You should try this

   if (!get_page_by_title($title, 'OBJECT', 'post') ){
   
    $my_post = array('post_title' => $title,
                            'post_content' => 'Content',
                            'tags_input' => $tags,
                            'post_category' => array(2),
                            'post_status' => 'publish'
                           );
   
     $result = wp_insert_post( $my_post );
   

   }

   Notice get_page_by_title function which determines whether a post with same title exists or not, if yes it doesn’t call wp_insert_post.

   I hope this will help someone struggling with the same problem.

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3. Maybe if you use something like a wpdb query including the wp_posts and wp_postmeta searching this meta before inserting the post…

   $string = 'the_url.html';
   $output = $wpdb->get_var($wpdb->prepare("SELECT count(id)
               FROM $wpdb->posts wpo, $wpdb->postmeta wpm
               WHERE wpo.ID = wpm.post_id
               AND wpm.meta_key = 'name_of_ur_meta'
               AND wpm.meta_value = '$string'"));      
   
   if(empty($output)) {
       /* Insert your post */
       } else {
               /* Update the post or do other thing */
       };
   

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4. If the problem, as per one answer above, is that the function is occurring within a loop of some kind, then the classic – and less resource-intensive – way to solve is to introduce a flag.

   $ran_already_flag = false;
   
   {loop begins}
   
   if ( ! $ran_already_flag ) {
   
       $my_post = array('post_title' => $title,
                        'post_content' => 'Content',
                        'tags_input' => $tags,
                        'post_category' => array(2),
                        'post_status' => 'publish'
                       );
   
   
       $result = wp_insert_post( $my_post );
       $ran_already_flag = true;
   
   }
   
   {loop ends}
   

   If the problem isn’t that the function has run inside a loop of some kind, then I’d be interested to know what did cause it: It could be that the function is attached to a hook that runs twice over the course of the entire script: Maybe “update_post” runs twice, for example. In that case, you might resort to one of the other choices offered in the other answers, though they really amount to creating flags by other means (the designated post title is a flag), and the simpler kind of flag variable could be passed along if necessary.

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5. Don’t user custom fields to fix it, you should better try this:

   if ( ! defined( 'DOING_AJAX' ) || ! DOING_AJAX ){
       $post_id = wp_insert_post( $my_post );
   }
   

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