Title: WP_Roles::__call
Published: September 4, 2014
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# WP_Roles::__call( string $name, array $arguments ): mixed|false

## In this article

 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_roles/__call/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_roles/__call/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_roles/__call/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_roles/__call/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_roles/__call/?output_format=md#changelog)

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

Makes private/protected methods readable for backward compatibility.

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

 `$name`stringrequired

Method to call.

`$arguments`arrayrequired

Arguments to pass when calling.

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

 mixed|false Return value of the callback, false otherwise.

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

    ```php
    public function __call( $name, $arguments ) {
    	if ( '_init' === $name ) {
    		return $this->_init( ...$arguments );
    	}
    	return false;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/class-wp-roles.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/class-wp-roles.php#L103)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/class-wp-roles.php#L103-L108)

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

| Uses | Description | 
| [WP_Roles::_init()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_roles/_init/)`wp-includes/class-wp-roles.php` |

Sets up the object properties.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [4.0.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/4.0.0/) | Introduced. |

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