the_author_meta( string $field = , int|false $user_id = false )

Outputs the field from the user’s DB object. Defaults to current post’s author.

Description

See also

Parameters

$fieldstringoptional
Selects the field of the users record. See get_the_author_meta() for the list of possible fields.
More Arguments from get_the_author_meta( … $field )The user field to retrieve.

Default:''

$user_idint|falseoptional
User ID. Defaults to the current post author.

Default:false

More Information

This template tag displays a desired meta data field for a user. Only one field is returned at a time, you need to specify which you want.

If this tag is used within The Loop, the user ID value need not be specified, and the displayed data is that of the current post author. A user ID can be specified if this tag is used outside The Loop.

If the meta field does not exist, nothing is printed.

NOTE: Use get_the_author_meta() if you need to return (and do something with) the field, rather than just display it.

For parameter $userID, if the user ID fields is used, then this function display the specific field for this user ID.

Source

function the_author_meta( $field = '', $user_id = false ) {
	$author_meta = get_the_author_meta( $field, $user_id );

	/**
	 * Filters the value of the requested user metadata.
	 *
	 * The filter name is dynamic and depends on the $field parameter of the function.
	 *
	 * @since 2.8.0
	 *
	 * @param string    $author_meta The value of the metadata.
	 * @param int|false $user_id     The user ID.
	 */
	echo apply_filters( "the_author_{$field}", $author_meta, $user_id );
}

Hooks

apply_filters( “the_author_{$field}”, string $author_meta, int|false $user_id )

Filters the value of the requested user metadata.

Changelog

VersionDescription
2.8.0Introduced.

User Contributed Notes

  1. Skip to note 5 content

    Advanced Uses
    A plugin may add an additional field in the registration or manage users, which adds a new value in the wp_usermeta (where wp_ is your data base prefix. For this example we will use a Twitter ID if a plugin set meta_key value to “twitter” and meta_value to “wordpress” then

    <p><?php printf( __( 'This author’s Twitter name is %s', 'textdomain' ), get_the_author_meta( 'twitter' ) ); ?></p>

    would return:

    This author’s Twitter name is WordPress

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