How to: ACF Bulk data import for repeaters (ACF v6+)

Earlier, I was tying to import a bulk list of links into an ACF repeater. There are several heavy import plugins that will get the job done, but I needed something simpler.

I used CodeWP to generate this code for my use case. When saving a specific post type, it'll check if I've added data to import, and if it's present, add it to the specified repeater. Quick and simple!

  //when post type is dataset and it's updated, run this function (only on the admin backend post edit page)
add_action('acf/save_post', 'urlimporter', 20);
function urlimporter()
{
    //if import_links acf field has content, and it's comma separated (https://url1.com,https://url2.com), get each item
    //for each link (use foreach), create a new repeater row for 'dataset' repeater, then add the link to the 'original_link' subfield
    //on success, delete the import_links field

    if (get_field('import_links')) {
        $post_id = get_the_ID();
        $repeater_name = 'dataset';
        $import_links = get_field('import_links');
        $import_links = explode(",", $import_links);
        foreach ($import_links as $link) {
            add_row($repeater_name, array('original_link' => $link), $post_id);
        }
        update_field('import_links', '', $post_id);
    }
}

Here's how it works.

We have two fields set using ACF for our custom post type. Import links, and the repeater.

If the user saves the post, and there is a common separated, list of links in the import links field, the function will run separating out each link and then adding it as a new repeater role. It will also clear the field.

It uses the acf/save_post action, which fires when saving the submitted $_POST data.

This function is a quick and simple way to insert large amounts of data into repeaters and it's easily extendable using CodeWP.