Retrieves user meta field for a user.

$user_id int Required

User ID.

$key string Optional

The meta key to retrieve. By default, returns data for all keys.

Default: ''

$single bool Optional

Whether to return a single value.
This parameter has no effect if $key is not specified.

Default: false

mixed An array of values if $single is false.
The value of meta data field if $single is true.
False for an invalid $user_id (non-numeric, zero, or negative value).
An empty string if a valid but non-existing user ID is passed.

Please note that if the meta value exists but is empty, it will return an empty string (or array) as if the meta value didn’t exist. This might cause unexpected behaviors in your code when you empty the user meta, your code can try to use add_user_meta instead of update_user_meta thinking the user does not have meta created yet.

File: wp-includes/user.php. View all references

function get_user_meta( $user_id, $key = '', $single = false ) {
	return get_metadata( 'user', $user_id, $key, $single );
}