Title: delete_usermeta
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# delete_usermeta( int $user_id, string $meta_key, mixed $meta_value ): bool

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#description)
    - [See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#see-also)
 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

This function has been deprecated since 3.0.0. Use [delete_user_meta()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_user_meta/)
instead.

Remove user meta data.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

### 󠀁[See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#see-also)󠁿

 * [delete_user_meta()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_user_meta/)

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$user_id`intrequired

User ID.

`$meta_key`stringrequired

Metadata key.

`$meta_value`mixedoptional

Metadata value. Default empty.

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 bool True deletion completed and false if user_id is not a number.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    function delete_usermeta( $user_id, $meta_key, $meta_value = '' ) {
    	_deprecated_function( __FUNCTION__, '3.0.0', 'delete_user_meta()' );
    	global $wpdb;
    	if ( !is_numeric( $user_id ) )
    		return false;
    	$meta_key = preg_replace('|[^a-z0-9_]|i', '', $meta_key);

    	if ( is_array($meta_value) || is_object($meta_value) )
    		$meta_value = serialize($meta_value);
    	$meta_value = trim( $meta_value );

    	$cur = $wpdb->get_row( $wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM $wpdb->usermeta WHERE user_id = %d AND meta_key = %s", $user_id, $meta_key) );

    	if ( $cur && $cur->umeta_id )
    		do_action( 'delete_usermeta', $cur->umeta_id, $user_id, $meta_key, $meta_value );

    	if ( ! empty($meta_value) )
    		$wpdb->query( $wpdb->prepare("DELETE FROM $wpdb->usermeta WHERE user_id = %d AND meta_key = %s AND meta_value = %s", $user_id, $meta_key, $meta_value) );
    	else
    		$wpdb->query( $wpdb->prepare("DELETE FROM $wpdb->usermeta WHERE user_id = %d AND meta_key = %s", $user_id, $meta_key) );

    	clean_user_cache( $user_id );
    	wp_cache_delete( $user_id, 'user_meta' );

    	if ( $cur && $cur->umeta_id )
    		do_action( 'deleted_usermeta', $cur->umeta_id, $user_id, $meta_key, $meta_value );

    	return true;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/deprecated.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/deprecated.php#L2229)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/deprecated.php#L2229-L2257)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [wp_cache_delete()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_cache_delete/)`wp-includes/cache.php` |

Removes the cache contents matching key and group.

  | 
| [clean_user_cache()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/clean_user_cache/)`wp-includes/user.php` |

Cleans all user caches.

  | 
| [wpdb::get_row()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wpdb/get_row/)`wp-includes/class-wpdb.php` |

Retrieves one row from the database.

  | 
| [wpdb::query()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wpdb/query/)`wp-includes/class-wpdb.php` |

Performs a database query, using current database connection.

  | 
| [_deprecated_function()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/_deprecated_function/)`wp-includes/functions.php` |

Marks a function as deprecated and inform when it has been used.

  | 
| [do_action()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/do_action/)`wp-includes/plugin.php` |

Calls the callback functions that have been added to an action hook.

  | 
| [wpdb::prepare()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wpdb/prepare/)`wp-includes/class-wpdb.php` |

Prepares a SQL query for safe execution.

  |

[Show 3 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#)
[Show less](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#)

| Used by | Description | 
| [update_usermeta()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/update_usermeta/)`wp-includes/deprecated.php` |

Update metadata of user.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_usermeta/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [3.0.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/3.0.0/) | Deprecated. Use [delete_user_meta()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/delete_user_meta/)  | 
| [2.0.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.0.0/) | Introduced. |

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