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 Source

File: wp-includes/post.php

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

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Uses Uses

Uses
Uses	Description
wp-includes/meta.php: get_metadata()	Retrieves metadata for the specified object.

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Used By Used By

Used By
Used By	Description
wp-admin/includes/template.php: get_post_states()	Retrieves an array of post states from a post.
wp-includes/class-wp-user-request.php: WP_User_Request::__construct()	Constructor.
wp-includes/user.php: _wp_privacy_send_request_confirmation_notification()	Notify the site administrator via email when a request is confirmed.
wp-includes/user.php: _wp_privacy_send_erasure_fulfillment_notification()	Notify the user when their erasure request is fulfilled.
wp-includes/post.php: wp_check_for_changed_dates()	Check for changed dates for published post objects and save the old date.
wp-admin/includes/class-wp-privacy-policy-content.php: WP_Privacy_Policy_Content::get_suggested_policy_text()	Check for updated, added or removed privacy policy information from plugins.
wp-admin/includes/class-wp-privacy-policy-content.php: WP_Privacy_Policy_Content::text_change_check()	Quick check if any privacy info has changed.
wp-admin/includes/class-wp-privacy-policy-content.php: WP_Privacy_Policy_Content::_policy_page_updated()	Update the cached policy info when the policy page is updated.
wp-admin/includes/privacy-tools.php: wp_privacy_process_personal_data_export_page()	Intercept personal data exporter page Ajax responses in order to assemble the personal data export file.
wp-admin/includes/privacy-tools.php: wp_privacy_generate_personal_data_export_file()	Generate the personal data export file.
wp-admin/includes/privacy-tools.php: wp_privacy_send_personal_data_export_email()	Send an email to the user with a link to the personal data export file
wp-includes/class-wp-customize-manager.php: WP_Customize_Manager::set_changeset_lock()	Marks the changeset post as being currently edited by the current user.
wp-includes/class-wp-customize-manager.php: WP_Customize_Manager::refresh_changeset_lock()	Refreshes changeset lock with the current time if current user edited the changeset before.
wp-includes/class-wp-customize-manager.php: WP_Customize_Manager::import_theme_starter_content()	Import theme starter content into the customized state.
wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-attachments-controller.php: WP_REST_Attachments_Controller::prepare_item_for_response()	Prepares a single attachment output for response.
wp-includes/class-wp-customize-nav-menus.php: WP_Customize_Nav_Menus::save_nav_menus_created_posts()	Publish the auto-draft posts that were created for nav menu items.
wp-includes/general-template.php: get_custom_logo()	Returns a custom logo, linked to home.
wp-includes/theme.php: get_header_image_tag()	Create image tag markup for a custom header image.
wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php: wp_ajax_crop_image()	Ajax handler for cropping an image.
wp-admin/includes/image-edit.php: wp_restore_image()	Restores the metadata for a given attachment.
wp-admin/includes/image-edit.php: wp_save_image()	Saves image to post, along with enqueued changes in `$_REQUEST['history']`.
wp-admin/includes/image-edit.php: wp_image_editor()	Loads the WP image-editing interface.
wp-admin/includes/template.php: _media_states()	Function to echo the attachment media states as HTML.
wp-admin/includes/media.php: edit_form_image_editor()	Displays the image and editor in the post editor
wp-admin/includes/media.php: get_attachment_fields_to_edit()	Retrieves the attachment fields to edit form fields.
wp-admin/includes/media.php: media_upload_form_handler()	Handles form submissions for the legacy media uploader.
wp-admin/includes/post.php: wp_check_post_lock()	Check to see if the post is currently being edited by another user.
wp-admin/includes/post.php: edit_post()	Update an existing post with values provided in $_POST.
wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php: wp_ajax_wp_fullscreen_save_post()	Ajax handler for saving posts from the fullscreen editor.
wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php: wp_ajax_save_attachment()	Ajax handler for updating attachment attributes.
wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php: post_thumbnail_meta_box()	Display post thumbnail meta box.
wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php: post_submit_meta_box()	Displays post submit form fields.
wp-admin/includes/class-custom-image-header.php: Custom_Image_Header::get_uploaded_header_images()	Gets the previously uploaded header images.
wp-includes/capabilities.php: map_meta_cap()	Maps meta capabilities to primitive capabilities.
wp-includes/theme.php: get_uploaded_header_images()	Get the header images uploaded for the current theme.
wp-includes/class-wp-embed.php: WP_Embed::shortcode()	The do_shortcode() callback function.
wp-includes/post-thumbnail-template.php: get_post_thumbnail_id()	Retrieve post thumbnail ID.
wp-includes/nav-menu-template.php: _wp_menu_item_classes_by_context()	Add the class property classes for the current context, if applicable.
wp-includes/post-template.php: get_page_template_slug()	Get the specific template filename for a given post.
wp-includes/media.php: wp_maybe_generate_attachment_metadata()	Maybe attempts to generate attachment metadata, if missing.
wp-includes/media.php: wp_prepare_attachment_for_js()	Prepares an attachment post object for JS, where it is expected to be JSON-encoded and fit into an Attachment model.
wp-includes/media.php: wp_enqueue_media()	Enqueues all scripts, styles, settings, and templates necessary to use all media JS APIs.
wp-includes/media.php: wp_get_attachment_image()	Get an HTML img element representing an image attachment
wp-includes/class-wp-post.php: WP_Post::__get()	Getter.
wp-includes/post.php: wp_check_for_changed_slugs()	Check for changed slugs for published post objects and save the old slug.
wp-includes/post.php: wp_delete_attachment()	Trash or delete an attachment.
wp-includes/post.php: wp_get_attachment_metadata()	Retrieve attachment meta field for attachment ID.
wp-includes/post.php: wp_get_attachment_url()	Retrieve the URL for an attachment.
wp-includes/post.php: wp_untrash_post_comments()	Restore comments for a post from the Trash.
wp-includes/post.php: wp_insert_post()	Insert or update a post.
wp-includes/post.php: wp_untrash_post()	Restore a post or page from the Trash.
wp-includes/post.php: get_post_custom()	Retrieve post meta fields, based on post ID.
wp-includes/post.php: get_post_status()	Retrieve the post status based on the post ID.
wp-includes/post.php: get_attached_file()	Retrieve attached file path based on attachment ID.
wp-includes/author-template.php: get_the_modified_author()	Retrieve the author who last edited the current post.
wp-includes/nav-menu.php: wp_get_associated_nav_menu_items()	Get the menu items associated with a particular object.
wp-includes/nav-menu.php: wp_setup_nav_menu_item()	Decorates a menu item object with the shared navigation menu item properties.
wp-includes/nav-menu.php: wp_update_nav_menu_item()	Save the properties of a menu item or create a new one.
wp-includes/nav-menu.php: wp_get_nav_menu_items()	Retrieves all menu items of a navigation menu.
wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php: wp_xmlrpc_server::add_enclosure_if_new()	Adds an enclosure to a post if it’s new.
wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php: wp_xmlrpc_server::_prepare_post()	Prepares post data for return in an XML-RPC object.

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Changelog
Version	Description
1.5.0	Introduced.

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User Contributed Notes User Contributed Notes

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Contributed by memuller — 5 years ago
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. 
```
Feedback
- “If $single is true, an empty string is returned. If $single is false, an empty array is returned.” This is not true anymore. For Wordpress 5.2.2: If $single is true: if the meta value is scalar, null is returned; otherwise, an empty array is returned. If $single is false: if the meta value is scalar, an array containing one null element is returned; otherwise, an array containing one empty array is returned. Therefore, one can’t check if the key exists or not, in the case the meta value is an array, because it will return an empty array, whether the value is set or not. — By Alfredo Barbosa — 12 months ago
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Contributed by Ian Dunn — 4 years ago

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;
}

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Feedback

If there are multiple values for the key “bar”, $post->bar will only return the first value. get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'bar') will return all the values for the key “bar”. Multiple values can be added to a key using the add_post_meta function. Values can be removed with delete_post_meta. — By John Dorner — 5 months ago

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Contributed by Codex — 5 years ago
Show the first value of the specified key inside a loop
```
$key_1_value = get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'key_1', true );
// Check if the custom field has a value.
if ( ! empty( $key_1_value ) ) {
	echo $key_1_value;
}
```
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Contributed by Codex — 5 years ago
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 ); ?>
```
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Contributed by Codex — 5 years ago
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; ?>
```
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Contributed by stijnjanmaat — 4 years ago
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] => Array ( [0] => value_1 ), [key_2] => Array ( [0] => value_2 ) )
```
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Contributed by BjornW — 5 years ago

If you want to hide postmeta keys from the customfields prefix the key name with an underscore.

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Contributed by BjornW — 5 years ago

Post meta keys are case-sensitive

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Contributed by kommasri — 3 years ago
Display single meta value using meta key
```
<?php 
$meta_print_value=get_post_meta(get_the_ID(),'conference_speaker_business',true);
echo($meta_print_value);
?>
```
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Contributed by Because Name Already Exists — 7 months ago
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"
}
```
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Contributed by Nadav Rotchild — 3 years ago
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. 
```
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Contributed by heshamadel — 1 year ago

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 );
 

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Contributed by Mario Valney — 3 years ago
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)
```
Feedback
- Just for the record, WordPress returns either empty string (”) or an empty array (is_countable and count === 0) when you attempt to retrieve a meta value using a post ID or meta key that doesn’t exist. — By Brian Layman — 1 year ago
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Contributed by sltmunky69 — 4 years ago

When I had tons of meta keys to work with to display some custom content for custom post types, instead of making several dozen calls to the get_post_meta function to grab the keys I wanted, I wrote this function instead. Basically it gets all of the meta keys and filters out all of the arrays with single values while maintaining any arrays that actually do have multiple values and returns an associative array of the results. If you have lots of single values to get, it saves you from having to iterate over every result to get your $k=>$v pairs so you can just access them by $mk[‘my_custom_meta_key’].
function array_push_assoc($array, $key, $value){ $array[$key] = $value; return $array; }
function filter_gpm($array){ $mk = array(); foreach($array as $k => $v){ if(is_array($v) && count($v) == 1){ $mk = array_push_assoc($mk, $k, $v[0]); } else { $mk = array_push_assoc($mk, $k, $v); } } return $mk; }
Call it like so
$mk = filter_gpm( get_post_meta( get_the_ID() ) );

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

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

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Used By #Used By

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