Using WordPress ‘deleted_user’ PHP action

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The deleted_user WordPress PHP action fires immediately after a user is deleted from the database.

Usage

add_action('deleted_user', 'your_custom_function', 10, 3);

function your_custom_function($id, $reassign, $user) {
    // your custom code here
}

Parameters

  • $id (int): ID of the deleted user.
  • $reassign (int|null): ID of the user to reassign posts and links to. Default is null, for no reassignment.
  • $user (WP_User): WP_User object of the deleted user.

More information

See WordPress Developer Resources: deleted_user

Examples

Log deleted user information

Log the deleted user’s information in a custom log file.

add_action('deleted_user', 'log_deleted_user', 10, 3);

function log_deleted_user($id, $reassign, $user) {
    // Log the deleted user's information
    error_log("User ID {$id} with email {$user->user_email} was deleted.");
}

Send an email notification

Send an email to the site administrator when a user is deleted.

add_action('deleted_user', 'email_admin_deleted_user', 10, 3);

function email_admin_deleted_user($id, $reassign, $user) {
    // Send an email notification to the site administrator
    wp_mail(get_bloginfo('admin_email'), 'User Deleted', "User ID {$id} with email {$user->user_email} was deleted.");
}

Reassign the deleted user’s posts and links to a specified user.

add_action('deleted_user', 'reassign_posts_and_links', 10, 3);

function reassign_posts_and_links($id, $reassign, $user) {
    // Reassign posts and links to user with ID 5
    global $wpdb;
    $wpdb->update($wpdb->posts, array('post_author' => 5), array('post_author' => $id));
    $wpdb->update($wpdb->links, array('link_owner' => 5), array('link_owner' => $id));
}

Remove user meta data

Clean up any custom user meta data associated with the deleted user.

add_action('deleted_user', 'remove_custom_user_meta', 10, 3);

function remove_custom_user_meta($id, $reassign, $user) {
    // Remove custom user meta data
    delete_user_meta($id, 'custom_meta_key');
}

Perform custom action on user deletion

Perform a custom action when a user is deleted, for example, remove the user from a third-party service.

add_action('deleted_user', 'custom_action_on_user_deletion', 10, 3);

function custom_action_on_user_deletion($id, $reassign, $user) {
    // Remove the user from a third-party service
    your_third_party_api_remove_user($user->user_email);
}