How to clear the cache in WordPress

WordPress does not have a built-in caching mechanism. However, many people use a caching plugin to help improve performance.

When caching is enabled, some types of changes (such as theme modifications) do not appear immediately. This article discusses how to clear the cache so you can be certain you are viewing the most recent version of your site.

W3 Total Cache plugin

W3 Total Cache is a popular caching plugin for WordPress. You can clear its cache from the administrative GUI, or from the command line with the WP-CLI program.

Using the WordPress administrative interface

To clear the cache for W3 Total Cache using the administrative interface, follow these steps:

1. Log in to WordPress as the administrator.
2. In the left sidebar, click Performance, and then click Dashboard. The W3 Total Cache page appears.
3. To clear all of the caches at once, click empty all caches.
   Alternatively, you can clear specific caches:

   • To clear the memcached cache, click empty only the memcached cache(s).
   • To clear the opcode cache, click empty only the opcode cache.
   • To clera the disk cache, click empty only the disk cache(s).

Using WP-CLI

To clear the cache for W3 Total Cache using the command line, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your account using SSH.
2. At the command prompt, change to the directory where WordPress is installed. For example, type cd ~/public_html.
3. Type the following commands:

   wp w3-total-cache flush all
   wp cache flush all
   

Other caching plugins

If you use a caching plugin other thanW3 Total Cache, read that plugin's documentation for information about how to clear the cache.

More Information

For more information about using caching with WordPress, please visit https://codex.wordpress.org/I_Make_Changes_and_Nothing_Happens.