Options table – where does my values go?

There is indeed an options table (wp_options / prefix_options). You can the find full details on that table here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Database_Description#Table:_wp_options

Options are meant to be globally accessible (not tied to individual posts), and you only need to know the option name/key. You can access that table and its values with the following functions:

<?php $your_option = get_option( $option, $default ); ?> – http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_option

<?php update_option( $option, $new_value ); ?> – http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/update_option

Now you mentioned custom fields, this is something completely different. Custom fields are tied to individual posts and are stored in the wp_postmeta (or prefix_postmeta) table. To access this data you’ll need both the post_id and the custom field name/key.

(Full details on the _postmeta table here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Database_Description#Table:_wp_postmeta)

You can access these values with the following functions:

<?php $meta_values = get_post_meta( $post_id, $key, $single ); ?> – http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/get_post_meta

<?php add_post_meta($post_id, $meta_key, $meta_value, $unique); ?> – http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/add_post_meta

<?php update_post_meta($post_id, $meta_key, $meta_value, $prev_value); ?> – http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/update_post_meta

<?php delete_post_meta($post_id, $meta_key, $meta_value); ?> – http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/delete_post_meta

There are more, and you can find them in the CODEX.

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