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

---

# wp_ajax_dismiss_wp_pointer()

## In this article

 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_ajax_dismiss_wp_pointer/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_ajax_dismiss_wp_pointer/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_ajax_dismiss_wp_pointer/?output_format=md#changelog)

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

Handles dismissing a WordPress pointer via AJAX.

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

    ```php
    function wp_ajax_dismiss_wp_pointer() {
    	$pointer = $_POST['pointer'];

    	if ( sanitize_key( $pointer ) !== $pointer ) {
    		wp_die( 0 );
    	}

    	//  check_ajax_referer( 'dismiss-pointer_' . $pointer );

    	$dismissed = array_filter( explode( ',', (string) get_user_meta( get_current_user_id(), 'dismissed_wp_pointers', true ) ) );

    	if ( in_array( $pointer, $dismissed, true ) ) {
    		wp_die( 0 );
    	}

    	$dismissed[] = $pointer;
    	$dismissed   = implode( ',', $dismissed );

    	update_user_meta( get_current_user_id(), 'dismissed_wp_pointers', $dismissed );
    	wp_die( 1 );
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php#L2958)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php#L2958-L2978)

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

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

Retrieves user meta field for a user.

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

Updates user meta field based on user ID.

  | 
| [sanitize_key()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/sanitize_key/)`wp-includes/formatting.php` |

Sanitizes a string key.

  | 
| [wp_die()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_die/)`wp-includes/functions.php` |

Kills WordPress execution and displays HTML page with an error message.

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

Gets the current user’s ID.

  |

[Show 3 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_ajax_dismiss_wp_pointer/?output_format=md#)
[Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_ajax_dismiss_wp_pointer/?output_format=md#)

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

| Version | Description | 
| [3.1.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/3.1.0/) | Introduced. |

## User Contributed Notes

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