* User API: WP_User_Query class
* Core class used for querying users.
* @see WP_User_Query::prepare_query() for information on accepted arguments.
#[AllowDynamicProperties]
* Query vars, after parsing
public $query_vars = array();
* List of found user IDs.
* Total number of found users for the current query
private $total_users = 0;
* Metadata query container.
public $meta_query = false;
* The SQL query used to fetch matching users.
private $compat_fields = array( 'results', 'total_users' );
* @param null|string|array $query Optional. The query variables.
* See WP_User_Query::prepare_query() for information on accepted arguments.
public function __construct( $query = null ) {
if ( ! empty( $query ) ) {
$this->prepare_query( $query );
* Fills in missing query variables with default values.
* @param string|array $args Query vars, as passed to `WP_User_Query`.
* @return array Complete query variables with undefined ones filled in with defaults.
public static function fill_query_vars( $args ) {
'blog_id' => get_current_blog_id(),
'role__not_in' => array(),
'capability__in' => array(),
'capability__not_in' => array(),
'search_columns' => array(),
'has_published_posts' => null,
'nicename__in' => array(),
'nicename__not_in' => array(),
'login__not_in' => array(),
return wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );
* Prepares the query variables.
* @since 4.1.0 Added the ability to order by the `include` value.
* @since 4.2.0 Added 'meta_value_num' support for `$orderby` parameter. Added multi-dimensional array syntax
* for `$orderby` parameter.
* @since 4.3.0 Added 'has_published_posts' parameter.
* @since 4.4.0 Added 'paged', 'role__in', and 'role__not_in' parameters. The 'role' parameter was updated to
* permit an array or comma-separated list of values. The 'number' parameter was updated to support
* querying for all users with using -1.
* @since 4.7.0 Added 'nicename', 'nicename__in', 'nicename__not_in', 'login', 'login__in',
* and 'login__not_in' parameters.
* @since 5.1.0 Introduced the 'meta_compare_key' parameter.
* @since 5.3.0 Introduced the 'meta_type_key' parameter.
* @since 5.9.0 Added 'capability', 'capability__in', and 'capability__not_in' parameters.
* Deprecated the 'who' parameter.
* @since 6.3.0 Added 'cache_results' parameter.
* @global wpdb $wpdb WordPress database abstraction object.
* @global WP_Roles $wp_roles WordPress role management object.
* @param string|array $query {
* Optional. Array or string of query parameters.
* @type int $blog_id The site ID. Default is the current site.
* @type string|string[] $role An array or a comma-separated list of role names that users
* must match to be included in results. Note that this is
* an inclusive list: users must match *each* role. Default empty.
* @type string[] $role__in An array of role names. Matched users must have at least one
* of these roles. Default empty array.
* @type string[] $role__not_in An array of role names to exclude. Users matching one or more
* of these roles will not be included in results. Default empty array.
* @type string|string[] $meta_key Meta key or keys to filter by.
* @type string|string[] $meta_value Meta value or values to filter by.
* @type string $meta_compare MySQL operator used for comparing the meta value.
* See WP_Meta_Query::__construct() for accepted values and default value.
* @type string $meta_compare_key MySQL operator used for comparing the meta key.
* See WP_Meta_Query::__construct() for accepted values and default value.
* @type string $meta_type MySQL data type that the meta_value column will be CAST to for comparisons.
* See WP_Meta_Query::__construct() for accepted values and default value.
* @type string $meta_type_key MySQL data type that the meta_key column will be CAST to for comparisons.
* See WP_Meta_Query::__construct() for accepted values and default value.
* @type array $meta_query An associative array of WP_Meta_Query arguments.
* See WP_Meta_Query::__construct() for accepted values.
* @type string|string[] $capability An array or a comma-separated list of capability names that users
* must match to be included in results. Note that this is
* an inclusive list: users must match *each* capability.
* Does NOT work for capabilities not in the database or filtered
* via {@see 'map_meta_cap'}. Default empty.
* @type string[] $capability__in An array of capability names. Matched users must have at least one
* Does NOT work for capabilities not in the database or filtered
* via {@see 'map_meta_cap'}. Default empty array.
* @type string[] $capability__not_in An array of capability names to exclude. Users matching one or more
* of these capabilities will not be included in results.
* Does NOT work for capabilities not in the database or filtered
* via {@see 'map_meta_cap'}. Default empty array.
* @type int[] $include An array of user IDs to include. Default empty array.
* @type int[] $exclude An array of user IDs to exclude. Default empty array.
* @type string $search Search keyword. Searches for possible string matches on columns.
* When `$search_columns` is left empty, it tries to determine which
* column to search in based on search string. Default empty.
* @type string[] $search_columns Array of column names to be searched. Accepts 'ID', 'user_login',
* 'user_email', 'user_url', 'user_nicename', 'display_name'.
* @type string|array $orderby Field(s) to sort the retrieved users by. May be a single value,
* an array of values, or a multi-dimensional array with fields as
* keys and orders ('ASC' or 'DESC') as values. Accepted values are:
* - 'display_name' (or 'name')
* - 'user_login' (or 'login')
* - 'user_nicename' (or 'nicename')
* - 'user_email' (or 'email')
* - 'user_url' (or 'url')
* - 'user_registered' (or 'registered')
* - The value of `$meta_key`
* - An array key of `$meta_query`
* To use 'meta_value' or 'meta_value_num', `$meta_key`
* must be also be defined. Default 'user_login'.
* @type string $order Designates ascending or descending order of users. Order values
* passed as part of an `$orderby` array take precedence over this
* parameter. Accepts 'ASC', 'DESC'. Default 'ASC'.
* @type int $offset Number of users to offset in retrieved results. Can be used in
* conjunction with pagination. Default 0.
* @type int $number Number of users to limit the query for. Can be used in
* conjunction with pagination. Value -1 (all) is supported, but
* should be used with caution on larger sites.
* Default -1 (all users).
* @type int $paged When used with number, defines the page of results to return.
* @type bool $count_total Whether to count the total number of users found. If pagination
* is not needed, setting this to false can improve performance.
* @type string|string[] $fields Which fields to return. Single or all fields (string), or array
* - 'user_activation_key'
* - 'spam' (only available on multisite installs)
* - 'deleted' (only available on multisite installs)
* - 'all' for all fields and loads user meta.
* - 'all_with_meta' Deprecated. Use 'all'.
* @type string $who Deprecated, use `$capability` instead.
* Type of users to query. Accepts 'authors'.
* Default empty (all users).
* @type bool|string[] $has_published_posts Pass an array of post types to filter results to users who have
* published posts in those post types. `true` is an alias for all
* @type string $nicename The user nicename. Default empty.
* @type string[] $nicename__in An array of nicenames to include. Users matching one of these
* nicenames will be included in results. Default empty array.
* @type string[] $nicename__not_in An array of nicenames to exclude. Users matching one of these
* nicenames will not be included in results. Default empty array.
* @type string $login The user login. Default empty.
* @type string[] $login__in An array of logins to include. Users matching one of these
* logins will be included in results. Default empty array.
* @type string[] $login__not_in An array of logins to exclude. Users matching one of these
* logins will not be included in results. Default empty array.
* @type bool $cache_results Whether to cache user information. Default true.
public function prepare_query( $query = array() ) {
if ( empty( $this->query_vars ) || ! empty( $query ) ) {
$this->query_limit = null;
$this->query_vars = $this->fill_query_vars( $query );
* Fires before the WP_User_Query has been parsed.
* The passed WP_User_Query object contains the query variables,
* not yet passed into SQL.
* @param WP_User_Query $query Current instance of WP_User_Query (passed by reference).
do_action_ref_array( 'pre_get_users', array( &$this ) );
// Ensure that query vars are filled after 'pre_get_users'.
$qv =& $this->query_vars;
$qv = $this->fill_query_vars( $qv );
$allowed_fields[] = 'spam';
$allowed_fields[] = 'deleted';
if ( is_array( $qv['fields'] ) ) {
$qv['fields'] = array_map( 'strtolower', $qv['fields'] );
$qv['fields'] = array_intersect( array_unique( $qv['fields'] ), $allowed_fields );
if ( empty( $qv['fields'] ) ) {
$qv['fields'] = array( 'id' );
$this->query_fields = array();
foreach ( $qv['fields'] as $field ) {
$field = 'id' === $field ? 'ID' : sanitize_key( $field );
$this->query_fields[] = "$wpdb->users.$field";
$this->query_fields = implode( ',', $this->query_fields );
} elseif ( 'all_with_meta' === $qv['fields'] || 'all' === $qv['fields'] || ! in_array( $qv['fields'], $allowed_fields, true ) ) {
$this->query_fields = "$wpdb->users.ID";
$field = 'id' === strtolower( $qv['fields'] ) ? 'ID' : sanitize_key( $qv['fields'] );
$this->query_fields = "$wpdb->users.$field";
if ( isset( $qv['count_total'] ) && $qv['count_total'] ) {
$this->query_fields = 'SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS ' . $this->query_fields;
$this->query_from = "FROM $wpdb->users";
$this->query_where = 'WHERE 1=1';
// Parse and sanitize 'include', for use by 'orderby' as well as 'include' below.
if ( ! empty( $qv['include'] ) ) {
$include = wp_parse_id_list( $qv['include'] );
if ( isset( $qv['blog_id'] ) ) {
$blog_id = absint( $qv['blog_id'] );
if ( $qv['has_published_posts'] && $blog_id ) {
if ( true === $qv['has_published_posts'] ) {
$post_types = get_post_types( array( 'public' => true ) );
$post_types = (array) $qv['has_published_posts'];
foreach ( $post_types as &$post_type ) {
$post_type = $wpdb->prepare( '%s', $post_type );
$posts_table = $wpdb->get_blog_prefix( $blog_id ) . 'posts';
$this->query_where .= " AND $wpdb->users.ID IN ( SELECT DISTINCT $posts_table.post_author FROM $posts_table WHERE $posts_table.post_status = 'publish' AND $posts_table.post_type IN ( " . implode( ', ', $post_types ) . ' ) )';
if ( '' !== $qv['nicename'] ) {
$this->query_where .= $wpdb->prepare( ' AND user_nicename = %s', $qv['nicename'] );
if ( ! empty( $qv['nicename__in'] ) ) {
$sanitized_nicename__in = array_map( 'esc_sql', $qv['nicename__in'] );
$nicename__in = implode( "','", $sanitized_nicename__in );
$this->query_where .= " AND user_nicename IN ( '$nicename__in' )";
if ( ! empty( $qv['nicename__not_in'] ) ) {
$sanitized_nicename__not_in = array_map( 'esc_sql', $qv['nicename__not_in'] );
$nicename__not_in = implode( "','", $sanitized_nicename__not_in );
$this->query_where .= " AND user_nicename NOT IN ( '$nicename__not_in' )";
if ( '' !== $qv['login'] ) {
$this->query_where .= $wpdb->prepare( ' AND user_login = %s', $qv['login'] );
if ( ! empty( $qv['login__in'] ) ) {
$sanitized_login__in = array_map( 'esc_sql', $qv['login__in'] );
$login__in = implode( "','", $sanitized_login__in );
$this->query_where .= " AND user_login IN ( '$login__in' )";
if ( ! empty( $qv['login__not_in'] ) ) {
$sanitized_login__not_in = array_map( 'esc_sql', $qv['login__not_in'] );
$login__not_in = implode( "','", $sanitized_login__not_in );
$this->query_where .= " AND user_login NOT IN ( '$login__not_in' )";
$this->meta_query = new WP_Meta_Query();
$this->meta_query->parse_query_vars( $qv );
if ( isset( $qv['who'] ) && 'authors' === $qv['who'] && $blog_id ) {
/* translators: 1: who, 2: capability */
__( '%1$s is deprecated. Use %2$s instead.' ),
'<code>capability</code>'
'key' => $wpdb->get_blog_prefix( $blog_id ) . 'user_level',
// Prevent extra meta query.
if ( empty( $this->meta_query->queries ) ) {
$this->meta_query->queries = array( $who_query );
// Append the cap query to the original queries and reparse the query.
$this->meta_query->queries = array(
array( $this->meta_query->queries, $who_query ),
$this->meta_query->parse_query_vars( $this->meta_query->queries );
if ( isset( $qv['role'] ) ) {
if ( is_array( $qv['role'] ) ) {
} elseif ( is_string( $qv['role'] ) && ! empty( $qv['role'] ) ) {
$roles = array_map( 'trim', explode( ',', $qv['role'] ) );
if ( isset( $qv['role__in'] ) ) {
$role__in = (array) $qv['role__in'];
if ( isset( $qv['role__not_in'] ) ) {
$role__not_in = (array) $qv['role__not_in'];
$available_roles = array();
if ( ! empty( $qv['capability'] ) || ! empty( $qv['capability__in'] ) || ! empty( $qv['capability__not_in'] ) ) {
$wp_roles->for_site( $blog_id );
$available_roles = $wp_roles->roles;
if ( ! empty( $qv['capability'] ) ) {
if ( is_array( $qv['capability'] ) ) {
$capabilities = $qv['capability'];
} elseif ( is_string( $qv['capability'] ) ) {
$capabilities = array_map( 'trim', explode( ',', $qv['capability'] ) );
$capability__in = array();
if ( ! empty( $qv['capability__in'] ) ) {
$capability__in = (array) $qv['capability__in'];
$capability__not_in = array();
if ( ! empty( $qv['capability__not_in'] ) ) {
$capability__not_in = (array) $qv['capability__not_in'];
// Keep track of all capabilities and the roles they're added on.
$caps_with_roles = array();
foreach ( $available_roles as $role => $role_data ) {
$role_caps = array_keys( array_filter( $role_data['capabilities'] ) );
foreach ( $capabilities as $cap ) {
if ( in_array( $cap, $role_caps, true ) ) {
$caps_with_roles[ $cap ][] = $role;
foreach ( $capability__in as $cap ) {
if ( in_array( $cap, $role_caps, true ) ) {