update_user_meta() │ WP 3.0.0

Update user meta field based on user ID.

Use the $prev_value parameter to differentiate between meta fields with the same key and user ID.

If the meta field for the user does not exist, it will be added.

Uses: update_metadata()
Used By: update_user_option()
1 time — 0.000987 sec (slow) | 50000 times — 45.34 sec (very slow) | PHP 7.0.8, WP 4.6.1

No Hooks.

Return

Int|true|false. Meta ID if the key didn't exist, true on successful update, false on failure or if the value passed to the function is the same as the one that is already in the database.

Usage

update_user_meta( $user_id, $meta_key, $meta_value, $prev_value );
$user_id(int) (required)
User ID.
$meta_key(string) (required)
Metadata key.
$meta_value(mixed) (required)
Metadata value. Must be serializable if non-scalar.
$prev_value(mixed)
Previous value to check before updating. If specified, only update existing metadata entries with this value. Otherwise, update all entries.
Default: ''

Changelog

Since 3.0.0 Introduced.

Code of update_user_meta() WP 5.9.3

wp-includes/user.php 
function update_user_meta( $user_id, $meta_key, $meta_value, $prev_value = '' ) {
	return update_metadata( 'user', $user_id, $meta_key, $meta_value, $prev_value );
}

Metadatas (any)