Internal Functions
These functions are intended for use inside The Loop, and all return arrays.
get_post_custom()
Get all key/value data for the current post.
get_post_custom_keys()
Get a list of all key names for the current post.
get_post_custom_values($key)
Get the list of values for a particular key on the current post.
get_post_meta($post_id, $key, $single = false)
In WP 1.5 and beyond, this function returns the meta information without cache problems. The function requires the post id, the key, and if $single is set to TRUE, it returns only the first result (NOT as an array) for PHP use.
This will output the resulting meta value (notice the addition of "echo"):
<?php $key="mykey"; echo get_post_meta($post->ID, $key, true); ?>