How to use insert_custom_user_meta filter in WordPress

insert_custom_user_meta filter

For non-custom meta fields, see the ‘insert_user_meta’ filter.

To use insert_custom_user_meta filter, first you have to register it using add_filter. You can write this code into functions.php of your activated theme or in a custom WordPress Plugin.

We at WePlugins, always prefer to create a custom WordPress Plugin while using hooks so nothing breaks when you update your WordPress Theme in the future.

In the below live example, we have defined a function weplugins_modify_insert_custom_user_meta_defaults which takes 4 parameters and we registered using add_filter. The first parameter insert_custom_user_meta is the name of the hook, the second parameter weplugins_modify_insert_custom_user_meta_defaults is the name of the function which needs to be called, the third parameter is the priority of calling the hook if the same hook is used multiple times, and the last parameter is the number of arguments (if any) to be passed in the registered function.

Sometimes, you have to remove a registered hook so you can use remove_filter to remove insert_custom_user_meta filter.

Parameters

Below are the 4 parameters required to use this hook.

• $custom_meta : (array) Array of custom user meta values keyed by meta key.
• $user : (WP_User) User object.
• $update : (bool) Whether the user is being updated rather than created.
• $userdata : (array) The raw array of data passed to wp_insert_user().

Live Example 1: Basic Usage

Below is an example of how you can use this hook.

function weplugins_modify_insert_custom_user_meta_defaults($custom_meta, $user, $update, $userdata) { 
    // Update the $custom_meta variable according to your website requirements and return this variable.
    return $custom_meta; 
}
// add the filter
add_filter( "insert_custom_user_meta", "weplugins_modify_insert_custom_user_meta_defaults", 10, 4 );

Live Example 2: Conditional Update

Here’s how to conditionally modify the custom user meta.

function weplugins_modify_insert_custom_user_meta_conditionally($custom_meta, $user, $update, $userdata) { 
    if ($update && isset($userdata['role']) && $userdata['role'] == 'editor') {
        $custom_meta['special_editor_meta'] = 'some_value';
    }
    return $custom_meta;
}
// add the filter
add_filter( "insert_custom_user_meta", "weplugins_modify_insert_custom_user_meta_conditionally", 10, 4 );

Live Example 3: Removing the Hook

To remove a hook callback, use the example below.

remove_filter( "insert_custom_user_meta", "weplugins_modify_insert_custom_user_meta_defaults", 10, 4 );

Please make sure to provide the same callback function name, priority, and number of arguments while removing the hook callback.