Because I knew the underlying data was fine, it was just being duplicated, I decided to use a MySQL query to update the database directly rather than running another import. Here is the query I ended up with:

UPDATE wp_postmeta a
JOIN wp_postmeta b
ON a.post_id = b.post_id
SET b.meta_value = REPLACE(b.meta_value, CONCAT(a.meta_value, ','), '')
WHERE a.meta_key = '_thumbnail_id' AND b.meta_key = '_product_image_gallery';


Because of the way that WordPress stores post meta I had to run a join on the wp_postmeta table against itself. Here is a break down of each line of the query:

UPDATE wp_postmeta a
JOIN wp_postmeta b

Here I am selecting the wp_postmeta table and joining it to itself in order to grab the two separate meta data values. The a table is for the _thumbnail_id field and the b table is for the _product_image_gallery field.

ON a.post_id = b.post_id

Now we use the post_id column to join together the rows by the post that they are associated with.

SET b.meta_value = REPLACE(b.meta_value, CONCAT(a.meta_value, ','), '')

After selecting and joining the tables I am setting the meta_value of the b table to be the value of the meta_value column with the duplicate image ID removed. It was made simpler because of the fact that I knew that the first value in that _product_image_gallery meta value was the duplicate. This meant I only had to search at the beginning and not worry about whether or not it was followed by a comma.

One important note: the reason I’m specifically targeting the b.meta_value column is because the b table is the table within the join that is targeting the _product_image_gallery meta field. If I were to use the a table it would assign the updated value to the _image_id meta field.

WHERE a.meta_key = '_thumbnail_id' AND b.meta_key = '_product_image_gallery';

Finally I am establishing which meta fields that I’m looking to target with the query.

By using this MySQL approach to fixing the meta data I was able to fix the meta fields with a single command that took roughly 3 seconds to process rather than running another full product import.

Step 1 – Install WP-CLI

curl -L https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/releases/download/v0.13.0/wp-cli.phar > wp-cli.phar

And then running these commands in order to be able to call WP-CLI by just using ‘wp’:

chmod +x wp-cli.phar
sudo mv wp-cli.phar /usr/bin/wp

Step 2 – Configure WP-CLI to use AMPPS binaries

At this point, if you’re using AMPPS to serve web sites locally, you’ll notice that any call to ‘wp’ within a site directory will return the “Error Establishing A Database Connection” message.  This is due to WP-CLI using the bundled PHP binary which is separate from the binary you are using for AMPPS.  The way to fix this is by adding some values to your bash_profile file.  To open the .bash_profile file, run this command:

open ~/.bash_profile

This should launch TextEdit window for editing your .bash_profile file. Add this line (modify the path to AMPPS to match your directory configuration) and save the file:

export PATH="/Applications/AMPPS/php/bin:/Applications/AMPPS/mysql/bin:$PATH"

Now you will need to restart Terminal in order for the updates to be applied. Verify the new path has been set by using this command:

wp --info

The PHP binary setting should now be pointing to the PHP binary within your AMPPS directory. If not, go back and verify that the paths you entered in the .bash_profile file are correct.