Title: PHP if statement for custom fields.
Last modified: August 20, 2016
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# PHP if statement for custom fields.
* [Noel Forte](https://wordpress.org/support/users/fortissimo95/)
* (@fortissimo95)
* [14 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-if-statement-for-custom-fields/)
* Hello,
I’m trying to create a PHP “if” statement that places the data from custom
fields into a div with css, but if there are no custom fields applied to that
post, then the div is displayed with static text.
* Here’s what I have right now:
* ```
```
* However, when wordpress comes across a post with custom fields, instead of displaying
the div with the meta data in it, the div under “else” is displayed, and the
metadata is displayed above the div.
* What’s wrong with this picture? Also, I’m very new at writing PHP, so this is
my attempt at trying to figure things out after doing some research.
Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
* [Fire Truck](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zmv/)
* (@zmv)
* [14 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-if-statement-for-custom-fields/#post-2703856)
* The function `the_meta()` isn’t meant to return anything, it always displays
the meta keys, even if you put it inside `if()`.
So on this line of your script`
` the custom fields are always displayed, `the_meta`
returns NULL, the condition evaluates to false and the execution hops to these
lines
* ```
```
* and displays the message “This is no information…”
* The part of the script between `if` and `else` is never executed.
* [Fire Truck](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zmv/)
* (@zmv)
* [14 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/php-if-statement-for-custom-fields/#post-2703857)
* There is a little function that should do what you want
* ```
$post_meta_keys = get_post_custom_keys($post->ID) ;
$nonprotected_meta_keys = 0;
foreach ( $post_meta_keys as $key ) {
if( is_protected_meta($key)){
continue;
}
else $nonprotected_meta_keys++;
}
if($nonprotected_meta_keys > 0) :
the_meta();
else : ?>
No meta here!