get_post_meta( int $post_id, string $key = '', bool $single = false ): mixed

Retrieves a post meta field for the given post ID.

Contents

Parameters

$post_id int Required
Post 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

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Return

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

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More Information

  • Please note that if a db collation is case insensitive (has with suffix _ci) then update_post_meta and delete_post_meta and get_posts() will update/delete/query the meta records with keys that are upper or lower case. However get_post_meta will apparently be case sensitive due to WordPress caching. See https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/18210 for more info. Be careful not to mix upper and lowercase.
  • Uses: get_metadata() to retrieve the metadata.

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Source

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

function get_post_meta( $post_id, $key = '', $single = false ) {
	return get_metadata( 'post', $post_id, $key, $single );
}

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Uses

Uses
Uses Description
get_metadata() wp-includes/meta.php

Retrieves the value of a metadata field for the specified object type and ID.

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Used By

Used By
Used By Description
update_menu_item_cache() wp-includes/nav-menu.php

Updates post and term caches for all linked objects for a list of menu items.
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Builds a unified template object based a post Object.
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WP_REST_Attachments_Controller::edit_media_item() wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-attachments-controller.php

Applies edits to a media item and creates a new attachment record.
get_post_states() wp-admin/includes/template.php

Retrieves an array of post states from a post.
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Notifies the user when their erasure request is fulfilled.
wp_check_for_changed_dates() wp-includes/post.php

Checks for changed dates for published post objects and save the old date.
WP_Privacy_Policy_Content::get_suggested_policy_text() wp-admin/includes/class-wp-privacy-policy-content.php

Check for updated, added or removed privacy policy information from plugins.
WP_Privacy_Policy_Content::text_change_check() wp-admin/includes/class-wp-privacy-policy-content.php

Quick check if any privacy info has changed.
WP_Privacy_Policy_Content::_policy_page_updated() wp-admin/includes/class-wp-privacy-policy-content.php

Update the cached policy info when the policy page is updated.
wp_privacy_process_personal_data_export_page() wp-admin/includes/privacy-tools.php

Intercept personal data exporter page Ajax responses in order to assemble the personal data export file.
wp_privacy_generate_personal_data_export_file() wp-admin/includes/privacy-tools.php

Generate the personal data export file.
wp_privacy_send_personal_data_export_email() wp-admin/includes/privacy-tools.php

Send an email to the user with a link to the personal data export file
WP_Customize_Manager::set_changeset_lock() wp-includes/class-wp-customize-manager.php

Marks the changeset post as being currently edited by the current user.
WP_Customize_Manager::refresh_changeset_lock() wp-includes/class-wp-customize-manager.php

Refreshes changeset lock with the current time if current user edited the changeset before.
WP_Customize_Manager::import_theme_starter_content() wp-includes/class-wp-customize-manager.php

Imports theme starter content into the customized state.
WP_REST_Attachments_Controller::prepare_item_for_response() wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-attachments-controller.php

Prepares a single attachment output for response.
WP_Customize_Nav_Menus::save_nav_menus_created_posts() wp-includes/class-wp-customize-nav-menus.php

Publishes the auto-draft posts that were created for nav menu items.
get_custom_logo() wp-includes/general-template.php

Returns a custom logo, linked to home unless the theme supports removing the link on the home page.
get_header_image_tag() wp-includes/theme.php

Creates image tag markup for a custom header image.
wp_ajax_crop_image() wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php

Ajax handler for cropping an image.
wp_restore_image() wp-admin/includes/image-edit.php

Restores the metadata for a given attachment.
wp_save_image() wp-admin/includes/image-edit.php

Saves image to post, along with enqueued changes in $_REQUEST['history'].
wp_image_editor() wp-admin/includes/image-edit.php

Loads the WP image-editing interface.
edit_form_image_editor() wp-admin/includes/media.php

Displays the image and editor in the post editor
get_attachment_fields_to_edit() wp-admin/includes/media.php

Retrieves the attachment fields to edit form fields.
media_upload_form_handler() wp-admin/includes/media.php

Handles form submissions for the legacy media uploader.
wp_check_post_lock() wp-admin/includes/post.php

Determines whether the post is currently being edited by another user.
edit_post() wp-admin/includes/post.php

Updates an existing post with values provided in $_POST.
wp_ajax_wp_fullscreen_save_post() wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php

Ajax handler for saving posts from the fullscreen editor.
wp_ajax_save_attachment() wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php

Ajax handler for updating attachment attributes.
post_thumbnail_meta_box() wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php

Displays post thumbnail meta box.
post_submit_meta_box() wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php

Displays post submit form fields.
Custom_Image_Header::get_uploaded_header_images() wp-admin/includes/class-custom-image-header.php

Gets the previously uploaded header images.
map_meta_cap() wp-includes/capabilities.php

Maps a capability to the primitive capabilities required of the given user to satisfy the capability being checked.
get_uploaded_header_images() wp-includes/theme.php

Gets the header images uploaded for the active theme.
WP_Embed::shortcode() wp-includes/class-wp-embed.php

The do_shortcode() callback function.
get_post_thumbnail_id() wp-includes/post-thumbnail-template.php

Retrieves the post thumbnail ID.
_wp_menu_item_classes_by_context() wp-includes/nav-menu-template.php

Adds the class property classes for the current context, if applicable.
get_page_template_slug() wp-includes/post-template.php

Gets the specific template filename for a given post.
wp_maybe_generate_attachment_metadata() wp-includes/media.php

Maybe attempts to generate attachment metadata, if missing.
wp_prepare_attachment_for_js() wp-includes/media.php

Prepares an attachment post object for JS, where it is expected to be JSON-encoded and fit into an Attachment model.
wp_enqueue_media() wp-includes/media.php

Enqueues all scripts, styles, settings, and templates necessary to use all media JS APIs.
wp_get_attachment_image() wp-includes/media.php

Gets an HTML img element representing an image attachment.
WP_Post::__get() wp-includes/class-wp-post.php

Getter.
wp_check_for_changed_slugs() wp-includes/post.php

Checks for changed slugs for published post objects and save the old slug.
wp_delete_attachment() wp-includes/post.php

Trashes or deletes an attachment.
wp_get_attachment_metadata() wp-includes/post.php

Retrieves attachment metadata for attachment ID.
wp_get_attachment_url() wp-includes/post.php

Retrieves the URL for an attachment.
wp_untrash_post_comments() wp-includes/post.php

Restores comments for a post from the Trash.
wp_insert_post() wp-includes/post.php

Inserts or update a post.
wp_untrash_post() wp-includes/post.php

Restores a post from the Trash.
get_post_custom() wp-includes/post.php

Retrieves post meta fields, based on post ID.
get_post_status() wp-includes/post.php

Retrieves the post status based on the post ID.
get_attached_file() wp-includes/post.php

Retrieves attached file path based on attachment ID.
get_the_modified_author() wp-includes/author-template.php

Retrieves the author who last edited the current post.
wp_get_associated_nav_menu_items() wp-includes/nav-menu.php

Returns the menu items associated with a particular object.
wp_setup_nav_menu_item() wp-includes/nav-menu.php

Decorates a menu item object with the shared navigation menu item properties.
wp_update_nav_menu_item() wp-includes/nav-menu.php

Saves the properties of a menu item or create a new one.
wp_xmlrpc_server::add_enclosure_if_new() wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php

Adds an enclosure to a post if it’s new.
wp_xmlrpc_server::_prepare_post() wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php

Prepares post data for return in an XML-RPC object.
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Changelog

Changelog
Version Description
1.5.0 Introduced.

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User Contributed Notes

  1. Skip to note 1 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 54You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by memuller —

    Return values when no meta field is found
    If a meta field with the given $key isn’t found for the given $post_id, the return value varies:

    If $single is true, an empty string is returned.
    If $single is false, an empty array is returned.

    Since both evaluate as false, you can use get_post_meta directly in conditionals, like this:

    if( ! get_post_meta( '1', 'non-existing_meta', true ) ) {}
if( ! get_post_meta( '1', 'non-existing_meta', false ) ) {}
// both ifs will get run if no meta field is found; since
// array() == false and '' == false

    What if I want to store an empty string?
    If for some reason your with to store an empty string or array into your meta field, get_post_meta will not be reliable when checking if the given meta field exists.
    In this case, you can use get_post_custom_keys to do so:

    if( ! in_array( 'given_key', get_post_custom_keys( '1' ) ) ) {} 
// this correctly checks for the existence of the given key, 
// even if it's empty or has a value that evaluates as false.
  2. Skip to note 2 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 39You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Ian Dunn —

    The best thing about this function is that you no longer need to use it :)

    Since r21559 (v3.5), you can just call $post->foo to fetch the equivalent of get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'foo', true ).

    You can even extend that to introduce dynamically-generated fields, so you can call echo esc_html( $post->bar ) instead of $bar = some_custom_logic( get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'bar', true ) ); echo esc_html( $bar ).

    This makes code a lot cleaner and more readable.

    add_filter( 'get_post_metadata', 'add_dynamic_post_meta', 10, 4 );

/**
 * Add dynamically-generated "post meta" to `\WP_Post` objects
 *
 * This makes it possible to access dynamic data related to a post object by simply referencing `$post->foo`.
 * That keeps the calling code much cleaner than if it were to have to do something like
 * `$foo = some_custom_logic( get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'bar', true ) ); echo esc_html( $foo )`.
 *
 * @param mixed  $value
 * @param int    $post_id
 * @param string $meta_key
 * @param int    $single   @todo handle the case where this is false
 *
 * @return mixed
 *      `null` to instruct `get_metadata()` to pull the value from the database
 *      Any non-null value will be returned as if it were pulled from the database
 */
function add_dynamic_post_meta( $value, $post_id, $meta_key, $single ) {
	$post = get_post( $post_id );

	if ( 'page' != $post->post_type ) {
		return $value;
	}

	switch ( $meta_key ) {
		case 'verbose_page_template':
			$value = "The page template is " . ( $post->_wp_page_template ?: 'not assigned' );
			break;
	}

	return $value;
}
  4. Skip to note 4 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 20You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Codex —

    Default Usage
    Get the meta for all keys for the current post:

    <?php $meta = get_post_meta( get_the_ID() ); ?>

    Get all meta for a single key for the current post:

    <?php $key_1_values = get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'key_1' ); ?>

    Get the first value of a meta key for the current post:

    <?php $key_1_value = get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'key_1', true ); ?>
  5. Skip to note 5 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 10You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Codex —

    Retrieve a Custom Field Thumbnail Url
    While you are in the WordPress Loop, you can use this code to retrieve a custom field. In this example, the thumbnail image url is in a custom field named “thumb”.

    <?php if ( get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'thumb', true ) ) : ?>
	<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark">
		<img class="thumb" src="<?php echo esc_url( get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'thumb', true ) ); ?>" alt="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>" />
	</a>
<?php endif; ?>
  6. Skip to note 6 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 8You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by stijnjanmaat —

    When you don’t specify a $key (”) and set $single to true in get_post_meta, it will return all keys still with an array of values.

    $meta = get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), '', true);
print_r($meta);
//Array ( [key_1] =&gt; Array ( [0] =&gt; value_1 ), [key_2] =&gt; Array ( [0] =&gt; value_2 ) )
  8. Skip to note 8 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 5You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Because Name Already Exists —

    When we calling for all post meta, it will returned array value:

    $post_metas = get_post_meta(get_the_ID());

    sample output:

    array(2) {
  ["_meta_key1"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=> "value1"
   }
  ["_meta_key2"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=> "val2"
   }
}

    We can make it into string, array_column will resulting default array value into string, for sure we need array combine to re-form array key: 

    $post_metas = get_post_meta(get_the_ID());
$post_metas = array_combine(array_keys($post_metas), array_column($post_metas, '0'));

    now output will be like here:

    array(2) {
  ["_meta_key1"]=>
  string(6) "value1"
  ["_meta_key2"]=>
  string(4) "val2"
}
  11. Skip to note 11 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 0You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Nadav Rotchild —

    If the value of the $key parameter is falsy get_post_meta will return the entire post meta array, even if $single is set to true. for example:

    get_post_meta( $post_id, FALSE, TRUE); //Returns all the post meta fields as an array.
get_post_meta( $post_id, '0', TRUE); //Will also return all the post meta fields as an array.
  12. Skip to note 12 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 0You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by heshamadel —

    Function The Retrieve a Number views in post

    /**
 Pass in function

	1: PostID                      =>     use get_the_ID();
	2: Meta Key Name               =>   'you can called anythings'
	3: Get The Post Meta Field     =>   get_post_meta();
	4: The Number Start Count      =>    add anyNumber ( 0,1,100,1000 or 2000 )
	5: Count +1
	6: Called Function in anypage  =>  <?php echo relationscode_save_post_views( ) ?>

 but you should remove (adjacent_posts_rel_link_wp_head)
**/

	function relationscode_post_views( ) {
       $postID = get_the_ID();
	   $metaKey = 'relationscode_post_views';
	   $views = get_post_meta( $postID, $metaKey, true );
	   $count_start_num = 0;
	
	   $count = ( empty( $views ) ? $count_start_num : $views );
       $count++;
    
       if(is_single()) {
    	  update_post_meta( $postID, $metaKey, $count );
    	  echo $count;
       } else {
    	   echo $views;
        
       }
	
   }
   remove_action( 'wp_head', 'adjacent_posts_rel_link_wp_head', 10, 0 );

  14. Skip to note 14 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: 0You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Koen Reus —

    Here’s a pitfall to steer clear of…

    register_post_meta() allows you to define a default value for a meta field. If the default value evaluates to true, you’ll be scratching your head why get_post_meta() returns true when you haven’t yet set a value, or just used delete_post_meta().

    Obviously get_post_meta() will return the default value defined in register_post_meta(). 

    <?php
register_meta( 'post', 'sample_field',[
	'single'	=> true,
	'type'		=> 'boolean',
	'default'	=> true,
]);

if(!get_post_meta($post_id, 'sample_field', true)){
	//This will now always execute unless you manually update the sample_field meta to false
}
  15. Skip to note 15 content
    You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this noteVote results for this note: -1You must log in to vote on the helpfulness of this note
    Contributed by Mário Valney —

    False if post ID isn’t absint or is 0

    Passing $post_id == 0 (or anything not a absint) will return false no matter $single.

    $meta = get_post_meta( 0, 'key', true );
var_dump( $meta ); // bool(false)

$meta = get_post_meta( 0, 'key', false );
var_dump( $meta ); // bool(false)

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