get_users with Serialized Custom Meta Value

Question

I'm attempting to use get_users to select users with only a certain meta value. In this case the meta key is extraInfo but the the values are in a serialized array. Can I pull users out like this? This is what I've been trying with no luck:

$meta_key = 'extraInfo[zip]';
$meta_value = $zip;
$query    = get_users('meta_key='.$meta_key.'&meta_value='.$meta_value);

Answer 1

The answer is, this can't be done with any efficiency. The best thing to do is pull the data out of the serialized array and save each as their own key/value pair in the wp_usermeta table. My key was extraInfo and the values I needed were serialized in the value. This is the script I've used to create new keys and values from the data automatically. The echoing was just used for some on screen feedback and isn't necessary. If you have a lot of users, you might want to use number and offest in the get_users query. Hope this helps someone.

<?php

$users = get_users( 'number=10' );
foreach ( $users as $user ) {
    $extras = unserialize(get_the_author_meta( "extraInfo", $user->ID ));
    foreach ($extras as $key=> $value) {
        echo '<p>' . $key . ': ' . $value . '</p>';
        update_user_meta( $user->ID, $key, $value);
    }
    echo '<p>' . esc_html( $user->user_email ) . '</p>';
    echo '<hr>';
}

?>

Answer 2

            <?php
            /**
             * are you sure that your meta value is ok
             */
            $meta_key = 'extraInfo[zip]';
            $meta_value = $zip;
            $query    = get_users(
            array(
                'meta_key' => $meta_key,
                'meta_value' => $meta_value
            ));