überEllis.com

Module: user.module, node.module
Drupal Version: 4.6.6

Oh sad day. Without thinking, I've deleted a user from a client's site and into the ether vanished a couple hours' work of static content..

Not against my better knowledge, I confess. When working with Drupal, always unpublish content, and block users.

Unpublish:
Administer > Content > Edit (the relevant node) > Uncheck "Published" > Submit

Block:
Administer > Users > Edit (relevant user) > Set Role to "Blocked"

*update* Oh, happy day! All my content is salvaged. If you have ssh access to your webserver, here's how you can too:

Step 1: Find out what the user's uid (or user id) was

Access your Drupal database from your secure shell terminal, eg:

mysql -u <username> -p <database>

where <username> = The drupal database user and <database> = the drupal database name

After entering the drupal database password, you will be taken to a mysql prompt.

Run the following database query:

select nid, uid from node where nid = <broken>;

where <broken> = A node id of a post that's no longer accessable.

This returns a table showing the user id of a broken node and should resemble something like this:

mysql> select nid, uid from node where nid = 13;
+-----+-----+
| nid | uid |
+-----+-----+
|  13 |   2 |
+-----+-----+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Step 2: Replace the user id with an existing user id

From the mysql prompt, execute the following:

update node set uid = <existing> where uid = <missing>;

where <existing> = The user id of an existing user, or a new user created to replace the deleted one and <missing> = the user id established from the above, eg:

mysql> update node set uid = 10 where uid = 2;
Query OK, 19 rows affected (0.43 sec)
Rows matched: 19  Changed: 19  Warnings: 0

Voila! Your content has been restored!