Title: _get_additional_user_keys
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# _get_additional_user_keys( WP_User $user ): string[]

## In this article

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

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

This function’s access is marked private. This means it is not intended for use 
by plugin or theme developers, only by core. It is listed here for completeness.

Returns a list of meta keys to be (maybe) populated in [wp_update_user()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_update_user/).

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/_get_additional_user_keys/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

The list of keys returned via this function are dependent on the presence of those
keys in the user meta data to be set.

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

 `$user`[WP_User](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/)required

[WP_User](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_user/) instance.

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

 string[] List of user keys to be populated in [wp_update_user()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_update_user/).

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

    ```php
    function _get_additional_user_keys( $user ) {
    	$keys = array( 'first_name', 'last_name', 'nickname', 'description', 'rich_editing', 'syntax_highlighting', 'comment_shortcuts', 'admin_color', 'use_ssl', 'show_admin_bar_front', 'locale' );
    	return array_merge( $keys, array_keys( wp_get_user_contact_methods( $user ) ) );
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/user.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/user.php#L2967)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/user.php#L2967-L2970)

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

| Uses | Description | 
| [wp_get_user_contact_methods()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_user_contact_methods/)`wp-includes/user.php` |

Sets up the user contact methods.

  |

| Used by | Description | 
| [wp_update_user()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_update_user/)`wp-includes/user.php` |

Updates a user in the database.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [3.3.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/3.3.0/) | Introduced. |

## User Contributed Notes

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