the_author_meta() │ WP 2.8.0

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

Uses: get_the_author_meta()
1 time — 0.000012 sec (very fast) | 50000 times — 0.03 sec (speed of light) | PHP 7.1.2, WP 4.7.3
Hooks from the function

Return

null. Nothing (null).

Usage

the_author_meta( $field, $user_id );
$field(string)
Selects the field of the users record. See get_the_author_meta() for the list of possible fields.
Default: ''
$user_id(int|false)
User ID.
Default: current post author

Examples

0

#1 Output the email of the author of the post (use the function inside the Loop): 

<p>Ator's email: <?php the_author_meta('user_email'); ?></p>
0

#2 Display email of the author's with ID=45: 

E-mail address of the author with ID 25: <?php the_author_meta( 'user_email', 25 ); ?>
0

#3 Advanced use

Some plugins can add their own meta fields for users, to display such meta fields need to specify their name in the first parameter.

Suppose the plugin added a new meta field: twitter and the value of this field is "wordpress", then the code:

<p>The author's twitter name: <?php the_author_meta('twitter'); ?></p>

Output: Twitter author name: wordpress

Notes

Changelog

Since 2.8.0 Introduced.

the_author_meta() code WP 6.7.1

wp-includes/author-template.php 
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 );
}

Metadatas (any)

Authors