If you’re unsure on what database your WordPress website is using, you can ascertain this information by viewing one of the main WordPress configuration files.

Browse the wp-config.php File

In your WordPress files on your server, there is a file named wp-config.php where you can review your WordPress database connection information, to work out the database name.

The first step is to log into your cPanel account. If you are unsure on how to do this, please view the following help article – ‘How to log into cPanel‘.

In cPanel, scroll down to the ‘Files‘ section and choose ‘File Manager‘.

The file manager has access to all of the files on your server, including your WordPress files which is where we need to edit the wp-config.php file.

Using the left directory listing, open the ‘public_html‘ folder and then click onto the folder that contains your WordPress installation.

Once in the WordPress folder, locate the wp-config.php file and mouse click onto it.

Choose ‘Edit‘ from the top menu.

Open the file in the text editor by selecting ‘Edit‘.

When the file loads, locate the line that defines the ‘DB_NAME‘ (this is usually near the top). This line will also reference the database name.

In our example above, you can see that our database name is ‘example_wp156’.

In this article, the process is explained on how you can find out which database your WordPress installation is using. Usually WordPress databases are prefixed with _wp, with these initials standing for WordPress.