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

---

# _wp_get_user_contactmethods( WP_User|null $user = null ): string[]

## In this article

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

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/_wp_get_user_contactmethods/?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.

The old private function for setting up user contact methods.

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

Use [wp_get_user_contact_methods()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_user_contact_methods/)
instead.

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

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

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

Default:`null`

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

 string[] Array of contact method labels keyed by contact method.

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

    ```php
    function _wp_get_user_contactmethods( $user = null ) {
    	return 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#L3011)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/user.php#L3011-L3013)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/_wp_get_user_contactmethods/?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.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [2.9.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.9.0/) | Introduced. |

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