# Anonymize Comment IP Addresses After 60 Days

> Once a day, shortens the stored IP address of approved comments older than 60 days, so you keep recent IPs for spam handling without holding personal data forever.

- Type: PHP
- Runs: Run everywhere
- Category: [Privacy & Cookies](https://wpide.com/library/category/privacy/)
- Tags: comments, retention, cron
- Author: WPIDE Team
- Installs: 0
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Page: https://wpide.com/library/privacy-anonymize-old-comment-ips/

## Code

```php
// Keep full IP addresses for this many days.
$wpide_ip_retention_days = 60;

add_action( 'init', function () {
    if ( ! wp_next_scheduled( 'wpide_anonymize_comment_ips' ) ) {
        wp_schedule_event( time() + HOUR_IN_SECONDS, 'daily', 'wpide_anonymize_comment_ips' );
    }
} );

add_action( 'wpide_anonymize_comment_ips', function () use ( $wpide_ip_retention_days ) {
    global $wpdb;

    $cutoff = gmdate( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', time() - $wpide_ip_retention_days * DAY_IN_SECONDS );
    $rows   = $wpdb->get_results( $wpdb->prepare(
        "SELECT comment_ID, comment_author_IP FROM {$wpdb->comments}
         WHERE comment_date_gmt < %s AND comment_approved = '1' AND comment_author_IP <> ''
         AND comment_author_IP NOT LIKE %s AND comment_author_IP NOT LIKE %s LIMIT 500",
        $cutoff,
        '%.0',
        '%::'
    ) );

    foreach ( $rows as $row ) {
        $wpdb->update( $wpdb->comments, array( 'comment_author_IP' => wp_privacy_anonymize_ip( $row->comment_author_IP ) ), array( 'comment_ID' => (int) $row->comment_ID ) );
        clean_comment_cache( (int) $row->comment_ID );
    }
} );
```

## Notes

Change $wpide_ip_retention_days to your retention period; already-shortened addresses are skipped.

## How to use it

Install the free WPIDE plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpide/), find "Anonymize Comment IP Addresses After 60 Days" in its snippet library and add it in one click; or create a new PHP snippet in WPIDE (or any code snippets plugin) and paste the code above. More snippets: https://wpide.com/library/