Title: WP_Abilities_Registry::unregister
Published: February 24, 2026

---

# WP_Abilities_Registry::unregister( string $name ): 󠀁[WP_Ability](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_ability/)󠁿|null

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#description)
    - [See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#see-also)
 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Unregisters an ability.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

Do not use this method directly. Instead, use the `wp_unregister_ability()` function.

### 󠀁[See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#see-also)󠁿

 * [wp_unregister_ability()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_unregister_ability/)

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$name`stringrequired

The name of the registered ability, with its namespace.

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 [WP_Ability](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_ability/)|null
The unregistered ability instance on success, null on failure.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function unregister( string $name ): ?WP_Ability {
    	if ( ! $this->is_registered( $name ) ) {
    		_doing_it_wrong(
    			__METHOD__,
    			/* translators: %s: Ability name. */
    			sprintf( __( 'Ability "%s" not found.' ), esc_html( $name ) ),
    			'6.9.0'
    		);
    		return null;
    	}

    	$unregistered_ability = $this->registered_abilities[ $name ];
    	unset( $this->registered_abilities[ $name ] );

    	return $unregistered_ability;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/abilities-api/class-wp-abilities-registry.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/abilities-api/class-wp-abilities-registry.php#L190)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/abilities-api/class-wp-abilities-registry.php#L190-L205)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_Abilities_Registry::is_registered()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/is_registered/)`wp-includes/abilities-api/class-wp-abilities-registry.php` |

Checks if an ability is registered.

  | 
| [__()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/__/)`wp-includes/l10n.php` |

Retrieves the translation of $text.

  | 
| [esc_html()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/esc_html/)`wp-includes/formatting.php` |

Escaping for HTML blocks.

  | 
| [_doing_it_wrong()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/_doing_it_wrong/)`wp-includes/functions.php` |

Marks something as being incorrectly called.

  |

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## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_abilities_registry/unregister/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [6.9.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/6.9.0/) | Introduced. |

## User Contributed Notes

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