WordPress Theme Directory
WordPress Theme Directory – Do you want to understand about the structure of WordPress files and directories? Your website stores the WordPress core software, themes, plugins, and user uploads. The WordPress file and directory structure will be explained in this beginner’s guide.
What Are the Benefits of Understanding WordPress File and Directory Structure?
Most users don’t need to know anything about WordPress files or directories to administer their site. Understanding how WordPress stores files and directories, on the other hand, can assist you in resolving many common WordPress issues on your own.
This handbook will assist you in the following areas:
- Learn which files and directories in WordPress are essential files.
- Learn how WordPress saves your photographs and other material.
- Your WordPress themes and plugins are stored here.
- On your WordPress installation, this is where you’ll find the configuration files.
This knowledge also aids in determining which WordPress files should be backed up.
You’ll also be able to troubleshoot issues like disabling all WordPress plugins, switching to the default theme, and fixing other typical WordPress issues.
After that, let’s have a look at the WordPress directory and file structure.
Getting to the Files and Directories in WordPress
To connect to your WordPress server, you’ll need an FTP client first. For more information, see our guide on how to utilize FTP to upload WordPress files.
File Manager is a simpler alternative to FTP. It’s a web-based application that comes per-installed on your WordPress hosting account’s cPanel dashboard.
The essential WordPress files are the files and directories in the red squares. This is where your WordPress site’s files and directories live. You are not permitted to make changes to those files on your own.
The following is a list of essential WordPress files and folders that may be found in the root directory of your WordPress site.
- wp-admin
- wp-includes
- index.php
- license.txt
- readme.html
- wp-activate.php
- wp-blog-header.php
- wp-comments-post.php
- wp-config-sample.php
- wp-cron.php
- wp-links-opml.php
- wp-load.php
- wp-login.php
- wp-mail.php
- wp-settings.php
- wp-signup.php
- wp-trackback.php
- xmlrpc.php
Files for WordPress Configuration
Some specific configuration files can be found in the WordPress root directory. These files include critical WordPress site-specific settings.
- WordPress employs the .htaccess file, which is a server configuration file, to control permalinks and redirects.
- wp-config.php — The wp-config.php file instructs WordPress on how to connect to your database. It also configures your WordPress site’s global settings.
- index.php — When a user requests a page, the index file loads and initialises all of your WordPress files.
You may need to make changes to the wp-config.php or.htaccess files on occasion. When modifying these two files, use additional caution. A minor blunder can render your website inaccessible. Always make a backup copy of these two files on your computer before making any modifications.
Check out our guide on why you can’t find the.htaccess file in your WordPress root directory if you don’t see it in your root directory.
You may or may not have the following files in your root directory, depending on how your WordPress site is set up.
- robots.txt — This file contains crawler instructions for search engines.
- Favicon.ico – WordPress hosting will occasionally generate a favicon file.
The wp-content folder is where WordPress stores all uploads, plugins, and themes. WP-content folder in the WordPress site’s root directory
The assumption is that you can alter files and directories in the wp-content folder. This isn’t fully accurate, though.
Let’s have a look at the wp-content folder to see how it functions and what you can do with it.
A standard WordPress blog’s wp-content folder
The contents of the wp-content folder vary from WordPress site to WordPress site. However, these are common on all WordPress sites:
- Themes [dir]
- plugins [directory]
- uploads [dir]
- index.php
The /wp-content/themes/ subdirectory is where WordPress saves your theme files. It is possible to change a theme file, however it is not encouraged. Your changes will be overwritten during the update if you update your theme to a newer version.
This is why creating a child theme for WordPress theme customization is advised.
The /wp-content/plugins/ folder holds all WordPress plugins you’ve downloaded and installed on your site. Unless you built the plugin specifically for your own WordPress site, you should not alter plugin files directly.
You’ll find code snippets in many WordPress tutorials that you may use on your own site. The best approach to add custom code to your WordPress site is to put it in your child theme’s functions.php file or create a site-specific plugin.
The /wp-content/uploads/ folder is where WordPress saves all of your image and media submissions. Uploads are stored in /year/month/ directories by default. When making a WordPress backup, don’t forget to include the uploads folder.
Fresh copies of WordPress core, your theme, and installed plugins can all be downloaded from their respective sources. However, if you lose your uploads folder, it will be extremely difficult to recover it without a backup.
In your wp-content directory, you may notice some extra default directories.
- languages — This folder is where WordPress saves language files for non-English WordPress sites.
- upgrade – This is a temporary folder created by WordPress during a version upgrade.
Many WordPress plugins have the ability to create their own directories within your wp-content directory. For example, in the snapshot above, the Envira Gallery plugin has established a gallery folder.
Important files may be stored in some of these directories. Your gallery photographs may be stored in the gallery folder. To avoid losing essential data, you should always backup such directories.
You may find files in other folders that you can safely remove. Caching plugins like as W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache, for example, may store cached files in their own directories.
That’s all there is to it; we hope this post has given you a better understanding of the WordPress file and directory structure. You might also be interested in our phpMyAdmin beginner’s guide on WordPress database management.
How to access key WordPress theme files?
You may need to FTP into your server and work directly with the code of a WordPress theme on a regular basis. This article is for WordPress users who have used the WordPress Dashboard before but have never connected into the server.
Before making too many modifications to your code, you should know a little bit about coding since if you don’t know what you’re doing, you may really mess things up.
Step 1: Find an FTP client
A FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client is required to connect to your server. There are numerous options available, some of which need payment and others which are completely free. I won’t go into great detail about FTP clients because this isn’t a post about them. For the time being, FileZilla, a free FTP client, will suffice.
Prepare for Step 2 by downloading and installing FileZilla (or another client of your choice).
Step 2: Log onto the server
The next step is to connect to your web server. You’ll need the IP address or URL of the server, as well as the username and password. When you set up your server, your web provider should have sent you an email with the login and password. If you forget the details or accidentally deleted the email, simply contact your hosting provider and request a resend.
Step 3: Go to the WordPress theme folder
The WordPress theme folder is where you want to look. This is the only folder whose contents you should ever change. Go to wp-content/themes/your-theme-name to find the theme folder.
All of the files that make up your theme are stored in this folder. Header.php and functions.php are two important files. I won’t go into detail about WordPress themes in this piece, but keep in mind that all theme files are stored in this directory.
Step 4: Download the file you want to edit
If you’re using FileZilla, you’ll need to save the file you’re working on to your hard drive before making any modifications. Locate and save the file to your computer.
It’s a good idea to build a backup file if you’re not sure what you’re doing. You can always upload the original file if you make a mistake this way.
Step 5: Make changes and upload
In a text editor, open the file you just downloaded and make the modifications you need to make. When you’re finished, upload the updated file to your server and check your site in a browser to see if the changes were made.