Wordpress domain change

[TopBanana]

Has anybody tried changing the domain name of their self-hosted wordpress site?
I signed up for a hosting package who gave me a domain on their system but now I fancy using a proper .co.uk domain. If I buy a domain and change the name servers how much of my wordpress site will still work?! Does wordpress use relative links for everything or will links try to find the old page addresses (and will the old address still work)?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Phil V]

There are tutorials on the wordpress site, but your template may do some of the work for you. I moved a site I'd had in test recently and despite lots of advice telling me how tricky it was it took less than 5 mins and worked perfectly.
Check the help specific to your template.

 

[TopBanana]

That's great, thanks Phil - it's good to know that someone has done it without too much time&hassle.

 

[KayJay]

Wordpress also stores your domain name and urls in the database in a lot of places. The fastest way to do it is to find and replace all instances of your old url with your new one using a text editor. Really easy. Keep a backup of your original database though just in case. I've done this many times.

 

[TopBanana]

Wordpress also stores your domain name and urls in the database in a lot of places. The fastest way to do it is to find and replace all instances of your old url with your new one using a text editor. Really easy. Keep a backup of your original database though just in case. I've done this many times.

I understand what you're saying, but I've got no SQL experience - how would I go about doing this find and replace?
Thanks