Manual:User table

Manual:Contents MediaWiki database layout user table

The user table is where MediaWiki stores information about users. If using Postgres, this table is named mwuser prior to 1.37.

Fields

Some of this information was adapted from schema.doc in the MediaWiki docs/ directory.

user_id

user_id is the primary key, used to uniquely identify a user.

user_name

user_name: Usernames must be unique, and must not be in the form of an IP address. Shouldn't allow slashes or case conflicts. See also Manual:$wgInvalidUsernameCharacters . Spaces are allowed, and underscores are converted to spaces (the opposite than with page names).

user_real_name

MediaWiki version:
1.3

user_real_name stores the user's real name (optional) as provided by the user in their "Preferences" section.

user_password

user_password is one of three formats, depending on the setting of $wgPasswordDefault :

  • Since MediaWiki 1.24, $wgPasswordDefault defaults to pbkdf2. In this case you will get a concatenation of the following:
    • The string ":pbkdf2:".
    • The hashing algorithm used inside the pbkdf2 layer, by default "sha512".
    • The colon character (:).
    • The cost for this algorithm, by default "30000".
    • The colon character (:).
    • The length of the derived key; "64" by default.
    • The colon character (:).
    • Base64 encoded salt of the hashing algorithm, e.g. "kkdejKlBYFV7+LP2m2thYA=="
    • The colon character (:).
    • And finally the base64 encoded result of the hashing algorithm (that had a (default) length of 128 bytes before base64 encoding). The hash of the plain text user password.
  • Since MediaWiki 1.24, if the maintenance script wrapOldPasswords.php has been used, passwords may also start with ":pbkdf2-legacyA:" or ":pbkdf2-legacyB:" like ":pbkdf2-legacyB:!sha256:10000:128!...".
  • For passwords written by MediaWiki 1.23 and older, if $wgPasswordSalt was true (default) it is a concatenation of the following:
    • The string ":B:"
    • A pseudo-random hexadecimal 31-bit salt between 0x0 and 0x7fff ffff (inclusive)
    • The colon character (:)
    • The MD5 hash of a concatenation of the salt, a dash ("-"), and the MD5 hash of the password.
  • For passwords written by MediaWiki 1.23 and older, if $wgPasswordSalt was false, it is a concatenation of the following:
    • The string ":A:"
    • The MD5 hash of the password.

user_newpassword

user_newpassword is generated for the mail-a-new-password feature.

user_newpass_time

user_newpass_time is set to the current timestamp (wfTimestampNow()) when a new password is set. Like the other timestamps, it is in MediaWiki's timestamp format (yyyymmddhhmmss, e.g. 20130824025644).

user_email

Email should be restricted, not public info. Same with passwords. Enter details at your own risk. ;)
This field is not nullable, so users who have never supplied an email address have an empty string set.

user_options

MediaWiki version:
1.18

user_options is no longer used as of MediaWiki 1.16. See Manual:User properties table .

On older versions of mediawiki, it is a newline-separated list of name=value pairs of the information of Special:Preferences. Old user accounts who haven't logged in since the field stopped being used may still have this field set.

user_touched

user_touched the last time a user logged in (not just mere visiting using an existing session), modified user settings, or got promoted into new user groups.

user_token

MediaWiki version:
1.4

user_token is a pseudorandomly generated value. When a user checks "Keep me logged in (for up to 365 days)" the value is stored in a persistent browser cookie ${wgCookiePrefix}Token that authenticates the user while being resistant to spoofing.

user_email_authenticated

user_email_authenticated is the timestamp of when the user email was authenticated. Defaults to NULL.

user_email_token

MediaWiki version:
1.5

user_email_token is a token used for confirming an email address. See User::newFromConfirmationCode in User.php

user_email_token_expires

user_email_token_expires is the expiration timestamp of the email token.

user_registration

MediaWiki version:
1.6

user_registration is the timestamp (date and time) of when the user registered. For old users, they may have a value of NULL for this field. The fixUserRegistration.php script can be used to back-populate this field.

user_editcount

MediaWiki version:
1.9

user_editcount is the rough number of edits and edit-like actions the user has performed. The following actions are counted as edits:

  • Creating or modifying a MediaWiki page even if the revision or page is later deleted (i.e. making a non-null edit)
  • Creating or modifying a post on a Structured Discussions (former "Flow") board
  • Moving a page to a new title (since version 1.30)
  • The redirect created from a page move (since version 1.38, but see T296035 for the proposed revert)

This field is not an exactly accurate copy of COUNT(*) FROM revision WHERE rev_user = user_id. However, it should be roughly accurate if the update scripts are consistently run and it's the only place edit count data is available to the software, so it's still used for serious purposes like deciding whether accounts have been autopromoted.

A number of things could cause this value to be incorrect. For example, it may be out of date or, for old accounts, NULL if the update script (initEditCount.php ) hasn't been run. Also, some deletions may not affect it consistently.

user_emailauthenticationtimestamp

MediaWiki version:
1.3

Removed in v1.4.

user_password_expires

MediaWiki version:
1.23

Date when user's password expires; null for no expiration date.

user_is_temp

MediaWiki version:
1.41
Gerrit change 918513

A boolean value representing whether the user is a temporary user. Zero if any type of user other than a temporary user. This exists to allow temporary users to be identified from the database only, by external applications.

Schema summary

MediaWiki version:
1.41

DESCRIBE user;

+--------------------------+------------------+------+-----+----------------------------------+----------------+
| Field                    | Type             | Null | Key | Default                          | Extra          |
+--------------------------+------------------+------+-----+----------------------------------+----------------+
| user_id                  | int(10) unsigned | NO   | PRI | NULL                             | auto_increment |
| user_name                | varbinary(255)   | NO   | UNI |                                  |                |
| user_real_name           | varbinary(255)   | NO   |     |                                  |                |
| user_password            | tinyblob         | NO   |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_newpassword         | tinyblob         | NO   |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_newpass_time        | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_email               | tinyblob         | NO   | MUL | NULL                             |                |
| user_touched             | binary(14)       | NO   |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_token               | binary(32)       | NO   |     |                                  |                |
| user_email_authenticated | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_email_token         | binary(32)       | YES  | MUL | NULL                             |                |
| user_email_token_expires | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_registration        | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_editcount           | int(10) unsigned | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_password_expires    | varbinary(14)    | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_is_temp             | tinyint(1)       | NO   |     | 0                                |                |
+--------------------------+------------------+------+-----+----------------------------------+----------------+
MediaWiki versions:
1.39 – 1.40

DESCRIBE user;

+--------------------------+------------------+------+-----+----------------------------------+----------------+
| Field                    | Type             | Null | Key | Default                          | Extra          |
+--------------------------+------------------+------+-----+----------------------------------+----------------+
| user_id                  | int(10) unsigned | NO   | PRI | NULL                             | auto_increment |
| user_name                | varbinary(255)   | NO   | UNI |                                  |                |
| user_real_name           | varbinary(255)   | NO   |     |                                  |                |
| user_password            | tinyblob         | NO   |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_newpassword         | tinyblob         | NO   |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_newpass_time        | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_email               | tinyblob         | NO   | MUL | NULL                             |                |
| user_touched             | binary(14)       | NO   |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_token               | binary(32)       | NO   |     |                                  |                |
| user_email_authenticated | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_email_token         | binary(32)       | YES  | MUL | NULL                             |                |
| user_email_token_expires | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_registration        | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_editcount           | int(10) unsigned | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_password_expires    | varbinary(14)    | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
+--------------------------+------------------+------+-----+----------------------------------+----------------+
MediaWiki versions:
1.36 – 1.38

DESCRIBE user;

+--------------------------+------------------+------+-----+----------------------------------+----------------+
| Field                    | Type             | Null | Key | Default                          | Extra          |
+--------------------------+------------------+------+-----+----------------------------------+----------------+
| user_id                  | int(10) unsigned | NO   | PRI | NULL                             | auto_increment |
| user_name                | varbinary(255)   | NO   | UNI |                                  |                |
| user_real_name           | varbinary(255)   | NO   |     |                                  |                |
| user_password            | tinyblob         | NO   |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_newpassword         | tinyblob         | NO   |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_newpass_time        | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_email               | tinyblob         | NO   | MUL | NULL                             |                |
| user_touched             | binary(14)       | NO   |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_token               | binary(32)       | NO   |     |                                  |                |
| user_email_authenticated | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_email_token         | binary(32)       | YES  | MUL | NULL                             |                |
| user_email_token_expires | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_registration        | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_editcount           | int(11)          | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_password_expires    | varbinary(14)    | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
+--------------------------+------------------+------+-----+----------------------------------+----------------+
MediaWiki versions:
1.23 – 1.35

DESCRIBE user;

+--------------------------+------------------+------+-----+----------------------------------+----------------+
| Field                    | Type             | Null | Key | Default                          | Extra          |
+--------------------------+------------------+------+-----+----------------------------------+----------------+
| user_id                  | int(10) unsigned | NO   | PRI | NULL                             | auto_increment |
| user_name                | varbinary(255)   | NO   | UNI |                                  |                |
| user_real_name           | varbinary(255)   | NO   |     |                                  |                |
| user_password            | tinyblob         | NO   |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_newpassword         | tinyblob         | NO   |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_newpass_time        | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_email               | tinyblob         | NO   | MUL | NULL                             |                |
| user_touched             | binary(14)       | NO   |     |                                  |                |
| user_token               | binary(32)       | NO   |     |                                  |                |
| user_email_authenticated | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_email_token         | binary(32)       | YES  | MUL | NULL                             |                |
| user_email_token_expires | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_registration        | binary(14)       | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_editcount           | int(11)          | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
| user_password_expires    | varbinary(14)    | YES  |     | NULL                             |                |
+--------------------------+------------------+------+-----+----------------------------------+----------------+
MediaWiki versions:
1.19 – 1.22

DESCRIBE user;

+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field                    | Type                | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| user_id                  | int(10) unsigned    | NO   | PRI | NULL    | AUTO_INCREMENT |
| user_name                | varchar(255) binary | NO   | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_real_name           | varchar(255) binary | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_password            | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpassword         | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpass_time        | binary(14)          | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email               | tinytext            | NO   | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_touched             | binary(14)          | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_token               | binary(32)          | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email_authenticated | binary(14)          | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email_token         | binary(32)          | YES  | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_email_token_expires | binary(14)          | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_registration        | binary(14)          | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_editcount           | int(11)             | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
MediaWiki version:
1.18

DESCRIBE user;

+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field                    | Type                | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| user_id                  | int(10) unsigned    | NO   | PRI | NULL    | AUTO_INCREMENT |
| user_name                | varchar(255) binary | NO   | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_real_name           | varchar(255) binary | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_password            | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpassword         | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpass_time        | binary(14)          | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email               | tinytext            | NO   | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_options             | blob                | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_touched             | binary(14)          | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_token               | binary(32)          | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email_authenticated | binary(14)          | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email_token         | binary(32)          | YES  | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_email_token_expires | binary(14)          | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_registration        | binary(14)          | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_editcount           | int(11)             | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
MediaWiki versions:
1.10 – 1.17

DESCRIBE user;

+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field                    | Type                | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| user_id                  | int(10) unsigned    | NO   | PRI | NULL    | AUTO_INCREMENT |
| user_name                | varchar(255) binary | NO   | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_real_name           | varchar(255) binary | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_password            | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpassword         | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpass_time        | binary(14)          | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email               | tinytext            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_options             | blob                | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_touched             | binary(14)          | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_token               | binary(32)          | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email_authenticated | binary(14)          | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email_token         | binary(32)          | YES  | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_email_token_expires | binary(14)          | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_registration        | binary(14)          | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_editcount           | int(11)             | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
MediaWiki version:
1.9

DESCRIBE user;

+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field                    | Type                | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| user_id                  | int(5) unsigned     | NO   | PRI | NULL    | AUTO_INCREMENT |
| user_name                | varchar(255) binary | NO   | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_real_name           | varchar(255) binary | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_password            | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpassword         | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpass_time        | char(14) binary     | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email               | tinytext            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_options             | blob                | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_touched             | char(14) binary     | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_token               | char(32) binary     | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email_authenticated | char(14) binary     | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email_token         | char(32) binary     | YES  | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_email_token_expires | char(14) binary     | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_registration        | char(14) binary     | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_editcount           | int(11)             | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
MediaWiki versions:
1.6 – 1.8

DESCRIBE user;

+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field                    | Type                | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| user_id                  | int(5) unsigned     | NO   | PRI | NULL    | AUTO_INCREMENT |
| user_name                | varchar(255) binary | NO   | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_real_name           | varchar(255) binary | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_password            | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpassword         | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email               | tinytext            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_options             | blob                | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_touched             | char(14) binary     | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_token               | char(32) binary     | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email_authenticated | char(14) binary     | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email_token         | char(32) binary     | YES  | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_email_token_expires | char(14) binary     | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_registration        | char(14) binary     | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
MediaWiki version:
1.5

DESCRIBE user;

+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field                    | Type                | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| user_id                  | int(5) unsigned     | NO   | PRI | NULL    | AUTO_INCREMENT |
| user_name                | varchar(255) binary | NO   | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_real_name           | varchar(255) binary | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_password            | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpassword         | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email               | tinytext            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_options             | blob                | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_touched             | char(14) binary     | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_token               | char(32) binary     | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email_authenticated | char(14) binary     | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email_token         | char(32) binary     | YES  | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_email_token_expires | char(14) binary     | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
+--------------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
MediaWiki version:
1.4

DESCRIBE user;

+------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field            | Type                | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| user_id          | int(5) unsigned     | NO   | PRI | NULL    | AUTO_INCREMENT |
| user_name        | varchar(255) binary | NO   | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_real_name   | varchar(255) binary | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_password    | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpassword | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email       | tinytext            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_options     | blob                | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_touched     | char(14) binary     | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
+------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
MediaWiki version:
1.3

DESCRIBE user;

+------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field            | Type                | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| user_id          | int(5) unsigned     | NO   | PRI | NULL    | AUTO_INCREMENT |
| user_name        | varchar(255) binary | NO   | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_real_name   | varchar(255) binary | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_rights      | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_password    | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpassword | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email       | tinytext            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_options     | blob                | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_touched     | char(14) binary     | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
+------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
MediaWiki versions:
1.1 – 1.2

DESCRIBE user;

+------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field            | Type                | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| user_id          | int(5) unsigned     | NO   | PRI | NULL    | AUTO_INCREMENT |
| user_name        | varchar(255) binary | NO   | MUL | NULL    |                |
| user_rights      | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_password    | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_newpassword | tinyblob            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_email       | tinytext            | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_options     | blob                | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| user_touched     | char(14) binary     | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
+------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+

Indexes

MediaWiki version:
1.18

SHOW INDEX IN user;

+-------+------------+------------------+--------------+------------------+-----------+-------------+----------+--------+------+------------+---------+---------------+
| Table | Non_unique | Key_name         | Seq_in_index | Column_name      | Collation | Cardinality | Sub_part | Packed | Null | Index_type | Comment | Index_comment |
+-------+------------+------------------+--------------+------------------+-----------+-------------+----------+--------+------+------------+---------+---------------+
| user  |          0 | PRIMARY          |            1 | user_id          | A         |           0 |     NULL | NULL   |      | BTREE      |         |               |
| user  |          0 | user_name        |            1 | user_name        | A         |           0 |     NULL | NULL   |      | BTREE      |         |               |
| user  |          1 | user_email_token |            1 | user_email_token | A         |           0 |     NULL | NULL   | YES  | BTREE      |         |               |
| user  |          1 | user_email       |            1 | user_email       | A         |           0 |       50 | NULL   |      | BTREE      |         |               |
+-------+------------+------------------+--------------+------------------+-----------+-------------+----------+--------+------+------------+---------+---------------+

See also