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

19–293

Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 328.

Plugin surface

6 hooks

Third-party callbacks on 'send_password_change_email', 'send_email_change_email', 'password_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 callbacksapply_filters()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 · 6

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

1. 1
   apply_filters( send_password_change_email )filterline 2622 (+46 into the body)

   Filters whether to send the password change email.

2. 2
   apply_filters( send_email_change_email )filterline 2637 (+61 into the body)

   Filters whether to send the email change email.

3. 3
   apply_filters( password_change_email )filterline 2704 (+128 into the body)

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

4. 4
   apply_filters( email_change_email )filterline 2763 (+187 into the body)

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

5. 5
   apply_filters( auth_cookie_expiration )filterline 2791 (+215 into the body)

   Filters the duration of the authentication cookie expiration period.

6. 6
   do_action( wp_update_user )actionline 2812 (+236 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.
• 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.
• get_option()Retrieves an option value based on an option name.

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 ↗

2576function wp_update_user( $userdata ) {2577	if ( $userdata instanceof stdClass ) {2578		$userdata = get_object_vars( $userdata );2579	} elseif ( $userdata instanceof WP_User ) {2580		$userdata = $userdata->to_array();2581	}2582 2583	$userdata_raw = $userdata;2584 2585	$user_id = isset( $userdata['ID'] ) ? (int) $userdata['ID'] : 0;2586	if ( ! $user_id ) {2587		return new WP_Error( 'invalid_user_id', __( 'Invalid user ID.' ) );2588	}2589 2590	// First, get all of the original fields.2591	$user_obj = get_userdata( $user_id );2592	if ( ! $user_obj ) {2593		return new WP_Error( 'invalid_user_id', __( 'Invalid user ID.' ) );2594	}2595 2596	$user = $user_obj->to_array();2597 2598	// Add additional custom fields.2599	foreach ( _get_additional_user_keys( $user_obj ) as $key ) {2600		$user[ $key ] = get_user_meta( $user_id, $key, true );2601	}2602 2603	// Escape data pulled from DB.2604	$user = add_magic_quotes( $user );2605 2606	if ( ! empty( $userdata['user_pass'] ) && $userdata['user_pass'] !== $user_obj->user_pass ) {2607		// If password is changing, hash it now.2608		$plaintext_pass        = $userdata['user_pass'];2609		$userdata['user_pass'] = wp_hash_password( $userdata['user_pass'] );2610 2611		/**2612		 * Filters whether to send the password change email.2613		 *2614		 * @since 4.3.02615		 *2616		 * @see wp_insert_user() For `$user` and `$userdata` fields.2617		 *2618		 * @param bool  $send     Whether to send the email.2619		 * @param array $user     The original user array.2620		 * @param array $userdata The updated user array.2621		 */2622		$send_password_change_email = apply_filters( 'send_password_change_email', true, $user, $userdata );2623	}2624 2625	if ( isset( $userdata['user_email'] ) && $user['user_email'] !== $userdata['user_email'] ) {2626		/**2627		 * Filters whether to send the email change email.2628		 *2629		 * @since 4.3.02630		 *2631		 * @see wp_insert_user() For `$user` and `$userdata` fields.2632		 *2633		 * @param bool  $send     Whether to send the email.2634		 * @param array $user     The original user array.2635		 * @param array $userdata The updated user array.2636		 */2637		$send_email_change_email = apply_filters( 'send_email_change_email', true, $user, $userdata );2638	}2639 2640	clean_user_cache( $user_obj );2641 2642	// Merge old and new fields with new fields overwriting old ones.2643	$userdata = array_merge( $user, $userdata );2644	$user_id  = wp_insert_user( $userdata );2645 2646	if ( is_wp_error( $user_id ) ) {2647		return $user_id;2648	}2649 2650	$blog_name = wp_specialchars_decode( get_option( 'blogname' ), ENT_QUOTES );2651 2652	$switched_locale = false;2653	if ( ! empty( $send_password_change_email ) || ! empty( $send_email_change_email ) ) {2654		$switched_locale = switch_to_user_locale( $user_id );2655	}

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 6.7.7 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

Something wrong on this page? Report it and it gets fixed in the next regeneration.