wp_update_user( array|object|WP_User $userdata ): int|WP_Error

Description

Compatibility

Present in every tracked release (6.7.7 to 7.1.0), and compiles on PHP 7.4 through 8.6-dev.

Parameters

$userdataarray|object|WP_User

An array of user data or a user object of type stdClass or WP_User.

Return value

int|WP_Error

The updated user's ID or a WP_Error object if the user could not be updated.

Performance profile

How much work a call to wp_update_user() does, and what it touches: the algorithmic scaling, the Zend instruction count per call across PHP versions, the hooks it hands control to, and the core code that calls it. Measured from the compiled opcodes, not a stopwatch, so every number is identical on any machine running the same PHP version, and every function in core is ranked by cost.

Cost class

Expensive

Sends mail via wp_mail().

Scaling

Scales with input

The body loops, so the work grows with what you pass in.

Instructions

18–305

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 339.

Plugin surface

7 hooks

Third-party callbacks on 'wp_set_password', 'send_password_change_email', 'send_email_change_email' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.

Called by

6

6 places in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.

What it touches

• hookthird-party callbacksdo_action()called directly
• optionoption read or writeget_option()called directly
• mailsends mailwp_mail()called directly
• querycontent queryget_user_by()one call below wp_update_user()
• cacheobject cachewp_cache_delete()one call below wp_update_user()
• serializeserialisationmaybe_unserialize()one call below wp_update_user()

Further down the call graph this can also reach transient. That is the worst case, several calls deep and usually down an error path, not what a normal call pays.

What one call costs · 150 distinct outcomes

One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost wp_update_user() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.

This body has more branch combinations than are worth enumerating, so the table covers the outcomes found first rather than every one that exists.

Hooks and filters fired · 7

7 hooks fire while wp_update_user() runs, in this order:

1. 1
   do_action( wp_set_password )actionline 2769 (+36 into the body)

   Fires after the user password is set.

2. 2
   apply_filters( send_password_change_email )filterline 2782 (+49 into the body)

   Filters whether to send the password change email.

3. 3
   apply_filters( send_email_change_email )filterline 2797 (+64 into the body)

   Filters whether to send the email change email.

4. 4
   apply_filters( password_change_email )filterline 2864 (+131 into the body)

   Filters the contents of the email sent when the user's password is changed.

5. 5
   apply_filters( email_change_email )filterline 2923 (+190 into the body)

   Filters the contents of the email sent when the user's email is changed.

6. 6
   apply_filters( auth_cookie_expiration )filterline 2949 (+216 into the body)

   Filters the duration of the authentication cookie expiration period.

7. 7
   do_action( wp_update_user )actionline 2977 (+244 into the body)

   Fires after the user has been updated and emails have been sent.

Uses · 22

• __()Retrieves the translation of $text.
• get_userdata()Retrieves user info by user ID.
• _get_additional_user_keys()Returns a list of meta keys to be (maybe) populated in wp_update_user().
• get_user_meta()Retrieves user meta field for a user.
• add_magic_quotes()Walks the array while sanitizing the contents.
• wp_hash_password()Creates a hash of a plain text password.
• do_action()Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook.
• apply_filters()Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.
• clean_user_cache()Cleans all user caches.
• wp_insert_user()Inserts a user into the database.
• is_wp_error()Checks whether the given variable is a WordPress Error.
• wp_specialchars_decode()Converts a number of HTML entities into their special characters.

Used by · 6

• WP_REST_Users_Controller::create_item()Creates a single user.
• WP_REST_Users_Controller::update_item()Updates a single user.
• edit_user()Edit user settings based on contents of $_POST
• get_password_reset_key()Creates, stores, then returns a password reset key for user.
• wp_install()Installs the site.
• wp_xmlrpc_server::wp_editProfile()Edits user's profile.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

2733function wp_update_user( $userdata ) {2734	if ( $userdata instanceof stdClass ) {2735		$userdata = get_object_vars( $userdata );2736	} elseif ( $userdata instanceof WP_User ) {2737		$userdata = $userdata->to_array();2738	}2739 2740	$userdata_raw = $userdata;2741 2742	$user_id = (int) ( $userdata['ID'] ?? 0 );2743	if ( ! $user_id ) {2744		return new WP_Error( 'invalid_user_id', __( 'Invalid user ID.' ) );2745	}2746 2747	// First, get all of the original fields.2748	$user_obj = get_userdata( $user_id );2749	if ( ! $user_obj ) {2750		return new WP_Error( 'invalid_user_id', __( 'Invalid user ID.' ) );2751	}2752 2753	$user = $user_obj->to_array();2754 2755	// Add additional custom fields.2756	foreach ( _get_additional_user_keys( $user_obj ) as $key ) {2757		$user[ $key ] = get_user_meta( $user_id, $key, true );2758	}2759 2760	// Escape data pulled from DB.2761	$user = add_magic_quotes( $user );2762 2763	if ( ! empty( $userdata['user_pass'] ) && $userdata['user_pass'] !== $user_obj->user_pass ) {2764		// If password is changing, hash it now.2765		$plaintext_pass        = $userdata['user_pass'];2766		$userdata['user_pass'] = wp_hash_password( $userdata['user_pass'] );2767 2768		/** This action is documented in wp-includes/pluggable.php */2769		do_action( 'wp_set_password', $plaintext_pass, $user_id, $user_obj );2770 2771		/**2772		 * Filters whether to send the password change email.2773		 *2774		 * @since 4.3.02775		 *2776		 * @see wp_insert_user() For `$user` and `$userdata` fields.2777		 *2778		 * @param bool  $send     Whether to send the email.2779		 * @param array $user     The original user array.2780		 * @param array $userdata The updated user array.2781		 */2782		$send_password_change_email = apply_filters( 'send_password_change_email', true, $user, $userdata );2783	}2784 2785	if ( isset( $userdata['user_email'] ) && $user['user_email'] !== $userdata['user_email'] ) {2786		/**2787		 * Filters whether to send the email change email.2788		 *2789		 * @since 4.3.02790		 *2791		 * @see wp_insert_user() For `$user` and `$userdata` fields.2792		 *2793		 * @param bool  $send     Whether to send the email.2794		 * @param array $user     The original user array.2795		 * @param array $userdata The updated user array.2796		 */2797		$send_email_change_email = apply_filters( 'send_email_change_email', true, $user, $userdata );2798	}2799 2800	clean_user_cache( $user_obj );2801 2802	// Merge old and new fields with new fields overwriting old ones.2803	$userdata = array_merge( $user, $userdata );2804	$user_id  = wp_insert_user( $userdata );2805 2806	if ( is_wp_error( $user_id ) ) {2807		return $user_id;2808	}2809 2810	$blog_name = wp_specialchars_decode( get_option( 'blogname' ), ENT_QUOTES );2811 2812	$switched_locale = false;

Changelog

Introduced in 2.0.0. Unchanged from 6.7.7 through 7.1.0.

1. 6.7.7
2. 6.8.8
3. 6.9.7
4. 7.0.4
5. 7.1.0

Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.

About this page

Parsed data

Generated from the wordpress-develop 7.1.0 tag, from src/wp-includes/user.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

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