When you're trying to wp_delete_post a custom post type, it deletes it fully instead of moving it to trash as it is the normal behavior.

This happens because "force delete" is, by default false and it will only trash the post if it's of post / page type:

.9/src/wp-includes/post.php#L2467

Why is this happening and what are the dangers of re-writing this to handle every post type?

When you're trying to wp_delete_post a custom post type, it deletes it fully instead of moving it to trash as it is the normal behavior.

This happens because "force delete" is, by default false and it will only trash the post if it's of post / page type:

https://core.trac.wordpress/browser/tags/4.9/src/wp-includes/post.php#L2467

Why is this happening and what are the dangers of re-writing this to handle every post type?

• custom-post-types
• posts

1 Answer 1

Have you tried wp_trash_post?

This seems like the perfect fit for your purpose. It will only permanently delete posts if you have your trash disabled, or added define('EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS', 0); to your wp-config.php file.