How to edit a user profile on the front end?

Question

How can I edit a user profile in the front end with a form?
first name, last name, username, email address and password

Answer 1

You can do that by copy your theme's page.php to a new file named something like user-profile.php and add to the very top of it this code:

<?php
/**
 * Template Name: User Profile
 *
 * Allow users to update their profiles from Frontend.
 *
 */

/* Get user info. */
global $current_user, $wp_roles;
//get_currentuserinfo(); //deprecated since 3.1

/* Load the registration file. */
//require_once( ABSPATH . WPINC . '/registration.php' ); //deprecated since 3.1
$error = array();    
/* If profile was saved, update profile. */
if ( 'POST' == $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] && !empty( $_POST['action'] ) && $_POST['action'] == 'update-user' ) {

    /* Update user password. */
    if ( !empty($_POST['pass1'] ) && !empty( $_POST['pass2'] ) ) {
        if ( $_POST['pass1'] == $_POST['pass2'] )
            wp_update_user( array( 'ID' => $current_user->ID, 'user_pass' => esc_attr( $_POST['pass1'] ) ) );
        else
            $error[] = __('The passwords you entered do not match.  Your password was not updated.', 'profile');
    }

    /* Update user information. */
    if ( !empty( $_POST['url'] ) )
        wp_update_user( array( 'ID' => $current_user->ID, 'user_url' => esc_url( $_POST['url'] ) ) );
    if ( !empty( $_POST['email'] ) ){
        if (!is_email(esc_attr( $_POST['email'] )))
            $error[] = __('The Email you entered is not valid.  please try again.', 'profile');
        elseif(email_exists(esc_attr( $_POST['email'] )) != $current_user->ID )
            $error[] = __('This email is already used by another user.  try a different one.', 'profile');
        else{
            wp_update_user( array ('ID' => $current_user->ID, 'user_email' => esc_attr( $_POST['email'] )));
        }
    }
        
    if ( !empty( $_POST['first-name'] ) )
        update_user_meta( $current_user->ID, 'first_name', esc_attr( $_POST['first-name'] ) );
    if ( !empty( $_POST['last-name'] ) )
        update_user_meta($current_user->ID, 'last_name', esc_attr( $_POST['last-name'] ) );
    if ( !empty( $_POST['description'] ) )
        update_user_meta( $current_user->ID, 'description', esc_attr( $_POST['description'] ) );

    /* Redirect so the page will show updated info.*/
  /*I am not Author of this Code- I don't know why but it worked for me after changing below line to if ( count($error) == 0 ){ */
    if ( count($error) == 0 ) {
        //action hook for plugins and extra fields saving
        do_action('edit_user_profile_update', $current_user->ID);
        wp_redirect( get_permalink() );
        exit;
    }
}
?>

then replace the loop of that page with this one:

<?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
    <div id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
        <div class="entry-content entry">
            <?php the_content(); ?>
            <?php if ( !is_user_logged_in() ) : ?>
                    <p class="warning">
                        <?php _e('You must be logged in to edit your profile.', 'profile'); ?>
                    </p><!-- .warning -->
            <?php else : ?>
                <?php if ( count($error) > 0 ) echo '<p class="error">' . implode("<br />", $error) . '</p>'; ?>
                <form method="post" id="adduser" action="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
                    <p class="form-username">
                        <label for="first-name"><?php _e('First Name', 'profile'); ?></label>
                        <input class="text-input" name="first-name" type="text" id="first-name" value="<?php the_author_meta( 'first_name', $current_user->ID ); ?>" />
                    </p><!-- .form-username -->
                    <p class="form-username">
                        <label for="last-name"><?php _e('Last Name', 'profile'); ?></label>
                        <input class="text-input" name="last-name" type="text" id="last-name" value="<?php the_author_meta( 'last_name', $current_user->ID ); ?>" />
                    </p><!-- .form-username -->
                    <p class="form-email">
                        <label for="email"><?php _e('E-mail *', 'profile'); ?></label>
                        <input class="text-input" name="email" type="text" id="email" value="<?php the_author_meta( 'user_email', $current_user->ID ); ?>" />
                    </p><!-- .form-email -->
                    <p class="form-url">
                        <label for="url"><?php _e('Website', 'profile'); ?></label>
                        <input class="text-input" name="url" type="text" id="url" value="<?php the_author_meta( 'user_url', $current_user->ID ); ?>" />
                    </p><!-- .form-url -->
                    <p class="form-password">
                        <label for="pass1"><?php _e('Password *', 'profile'); ?> </label>
                        <input class="text-input" name="pass1" type="password" id="pass1" />
                    </p><!-- .form-password -->
                    <p class="form-password">
                        <label for="pass2"><?php _e('Repeat Password *', 'profile'); ?></label>
                        <input class="text-input" name="pass2" type="password" id="pass2" />
                    </p><!-- .form-password -->
                    <p class="form-textarea">
                        <label for="description"><?php _e('Biographical Information', 'profile') ?></label>
                        <textarea name="description" id="description" rows="3" cols="50"><?php the_author_meta( 'description', $current_user->ID ); ?></textarea>
                    </p><!-- .form-textarea -->
                    
                    <?php 
                        //action hook for plugin and extra fields
                        do_action('edit_user_profile',$current_user); 
                    ?>
                    <p class="form-submit">
                        <?php //echo $referer; ?>
                        <input name="updateuser" type="submit" id="updateuser" class="submit button" value="<?php _e('Update', 'profile'); ?>" />
                        <?php wp_nonce_field( 'update-user' ) ?>
                        <input name="action" type="hidden" id="action" value="update-user" />
                    </p><!-- .form-submit -->
                </form><!-- #adduser -->
            <?php endif; ?>
        </div><!-- .entry-content -->
    </div><!-- .hentry .post -->
    <?php endwhile; ?>
<?php else: ?>
    <p class="no-data">
        <?php _e('Sorry, no page matched your criteria.', 'profile'); ?>
    </p><!-- .no-data -->
<?php endif; ?>

and all that is left for you to do is create a new page and select the "user profile" as the page template.

now if all of this is too much you can use some plugins that do the hard work for you like:

• Frontend Edit Profile
• WP User Frontend
• Theme My Login
• WP Front End Profile