Programmatically add/update users using user_save()

Submitted by Eric.London on 9/10/2009

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Here's a quick code snippet I use to programmatically create new users:

<?php
$newUser = array(
  'name' => 'username',
  'pass' => 'password', // note: do not md5 the password
  'mail' => 'email address',
  'status' => 1,
  'init' => 'email address'
);            
user_save(null, $newUser);
?>

And, here's how you can update an existing user:

<?php
// load user object
$existingUser = user_load('USERID');

// update some user property
$existingUser->some_property = 'blah';

// save existing user
user_save((object) array('uid' => $existingUser->uid), (array) $existingUser);
?>

If you wanted to update an existing user's profile data:

<?php
// load user object
$existingUser = user_load('USERID');

// create an array of properties to update
$edit = array(
  'profile_first_name' => 'Eric'
);

// save existing user
user_save(
  (object) array('uid' => $existingUser->uid),
  $edit,
  'Personal Information' // category
);
?>

Drupal 7, add user

Submitted by Eric.London on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 08:29.

I just added a user in Drupal 7 using this code, and had no issues...

<?php
$account = new StdClass();
$account->is_new = TRUE;
$account->status = TRUE;
$account->name = 'someusername';
$account->pass = 'somepassword';
$account->mail = 'email@example.com';
$account->init = 'email@example.com';
$account->roles[5] = 'some role';
$account->field_first_name[LANGUAGE_NONE][0]['value'] = 'some first name';
$account->field_last_name[LANGUAGE_NONE][0]['value'] = 'some last name';
user_save($account);
?>

password not hashed for new accounts

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 01/26/2012 - 08:30.

you need to hash the password first
<?php
$account->pass =user_hash_password('somepassword');
?>

if you are updating existing accounts the password gets hashed for you by user_save

guy_schneerson
www.blue-bag.com

Good Post

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 09/30/2011 - 05:08.

This is an excellent post, explained complex stuff in a simple manner

Welcome to your new Drupal website!

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 09/22/2011 - 03:55.

Hello,

First, I want to thank you for your explanations.

I met a little problem. After adding users programatically, the user log in to the site and see the "Welcome to your new drupal website!" message.

Have I missed something in that array ?

$edit = array(
             'mail' => $data['WEMAIL'],
             'pass' => $data['ID_PWD'],
             'language' => $data['WLG'],
             'status' => $status,
             'role' => $roles
   );

user_save((object) array('uid' => $existingUser->uid), (array) $edit);

Thanks for your answer.

A little bit more advanced example

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 09/16/2011 - 04:38.

Some code adjustments and additional properties defining :

// New user creation $account = new stdClass(); $account->is_new = true; $newUserData = array( 'name' => 'test user', 'pass' => '123456', // note: do not md5 the password 'mail' => 'email1@email.com', 'status' => 0, 'timezone' => 'Europe/Paris', 'init' => 'email1@email.com', 'roles' => array( '1' => 'your role 1', '2' => 'your role 2', ), ); $new_user = user_save($account, $newUserData);

Thanks, this worked for

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 14:57.

Thanks, this worked for me.

To answer a previous comment's question: to send the user a registration email use the drupal function _user_mail_notify().

An example might be:
$newUser = array(
'name' => 'username',
'pass' => 'password', // note: do not md5 the password
'mail' => 'email address',
'status' => 1,
'init' => 'email address'
);
$user = user_save(null, $newUser);
_user_mail_notify('status_activated', $user);

user_save((object) array('uid' => $existingUser->uid), (array) $existingUser);

This is the only code I could get to deal with user updates, so I'm sticking with it!

Thanks, Eric!

Cheers,

Richard aka siliconmeadow
http://drupal.org/user/55284

Programmatically add/update users using user_save()

Drupal 7, add user

password not hashed for new accounts

Good Post

Welcome to your new Drupal website!

A little bit more advanced example

Thanks, this worked for

Thanks

How to send user "welcome to xyz site" email on user creation

Thank you for this!

Thanks. You saved me a trip

And good thing you didn't go to the docs...