Do you know what WordPress get_post_meta function is ? If your answer is no, don’t worry. You will get to know everything you need to know after reading this article. Almost everybody who uses WordPress also uses get_post_meta. Whether they know it or not. Why I am saying this ? I will explain everything to you.
Post meta is alternate name for custom fields. Many people don’t know this. That’s why they get confused about post meta, even after using it. These are kind of a data that describes about post. In simple words these are functions provided by WordPress to get meta field value.
Often people confuse the meta box with custom fields, but these are not the same. If we keep some specific data aside. The metabox value is stored in wp_postmeta.
Why get_post_meta is important?
As we already discussed WordPress provides custom fields to describe posts. But sometime these fields are not enough so we need to create extra fields to fulfill our needs. WordPress provides this function to create extra fields.
Not just this, these functions can be managed completely. For example when we are working on woo-commerce. We need to create extra fields like price, products etc. These are created with the help of get_post_meta function.
How to Get Custom Fields Value with get_post_meta ?
This function isn’t just related to post. As per your needs you can use it with posts, products(woo-commerce) or any other thing. Below are parameters that are accepted by WordPress get_post_meta function.
- $post_id : It is the ID of the post, which we are using to fetch the meta value.
- $key– : The name of the custom field is called the key. It’s not mandatory to use this. But whenever you want to fetch a particular field. You need to use this.
- $single: It is only used if a key is already provided.
Examples
function get_post_meta( $post_id, $key = '', $single = false ) {
return get_metadata( 'post', $post_id, $key, $single );
}
What is adding/saving post meta value and it’s process ?
The function used to save or add meta value is add_post_meta(); In simple words the function which is used to add meta value in the database is called add_post_meta();
Below are the parameters used while adding or saving meta-box.
1. $post_id– It is the ID of the post.
2. $key– It’s the name of the custom field.
3. $value– It is to check if the same key is added of not. The default is set to false.
4. $single -(isn’t necessary)-
What is update post_meta_meta();
As the name suggests update post meta is used to update post meta value. It is very similar to add_post_meta. It accepts the same parameters as add post meta. If you are thinking that if it is same as add post meta then what’s the use of it. Although it is similar yet it has its own use cases. Unlike add post meta it checks if the meta value already exists or not. If not then it does the same work as add post meta.
Delete meta field values.
At this point you may already have an idea about delete_post_meta();. If not you can try to guess as it’s not that difficult. It is simply used to delete custom field value. Here are the parameters that are accepted by delete post meta function.
1. $post_id- It is the ID of the post.
2. $key– It’s the name of the custom field.
3. $value– The value of the custom field. The default is set to false.
Final Thoughts
That’s all about get_post_meta(); function. We have tried to teach you everything. From meaning to uses everything we have covered. I hope you got what you were looking in this article. If yes then have a look at our other articles like wp_nav_menu and the_post_thumbnail etc. If you want to know any other thing., you can ask by leaving a simple comment. I will try to solve your issue as soon as possible.
