Title: WP_User_Query::__call
Published: September 4, 2014
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# WP_User_Query::__call( string $name, array $arguments ): mixed

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user_query/__call/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user_query/__call/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user_query/__call/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user_query/__call/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user_query/__call/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user_query/__call/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Makes private/protected methods readable for backward compatibility.

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user_query/__call/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$name`stringrequired

Method to call.

`$arguments`arrayrequired

Arguments to pass when calling.

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user_query/__call/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 mixed Return value of the callback, false otherwise.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user_query/__call/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function __call( $name, $arguments ) {
    	if ( 'get_search_sql' === $name ) {
    		return $this->get_search_sql( ...$arguments );
    	}
    	return false;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/class-wp-user-query.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-user-query.php#L1229)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-user-query.php#L1229-L1234)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user_query/__call/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_User_Query::get_search_sql()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user_query/get_search_sql/)`wp-includes/class-wp-user-query.php` |

Used internally to generate an SQL string for searching across multiple columns.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user_query/__call/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [4.0.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/4.0.0/) | Introduced. |

## User Contributed Notes

You must [log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.wordpress.org%2Freference%2Fclasses%2Fwp_user_query%2F__call%2F)
before being able to contribute a note or feedback.