Title: WP_Roles::remove_role
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: February 24, 2026

---

# WP_Roles::remove_role( string $role )

## In this article

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

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

Removes a role by name.

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

 `$role`stringrequired

Role name.

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

    ```php
    public function remove_role( $role ) {
    	if ( ! isset( $this->role_objects[ $role ] ) ) {
    		return;
    	}

    	unset( $this->role_objects[ $role ] );
    	unset( $this->role_names[ $role ] );
    	unset( $this->roles[ $role ] );

    	if ( $this->use_db ) {
    		update_option( $this->role_key, $this->roles );
    	}

    	if ( get_option( 'default_role' ) === $role ) {
    		update_option( 'default_role', 'subscriber' );
    	}
    }
    ```

[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/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-roles.php#L204)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/6.9.4/src/wp-includes/class-wp-roles.php#L204-L220)

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

| Uses | Description | 
| [update_option()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/update_option/)`wp-includes/option.php` |

Updates the value of an option that was already added.

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

Retrieves an option value based on an option name.

  |

| Used by | Description | 
| [remove_role()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/remove_role/)`wp-includes/capabilities.php` |

Removes a role, if it exists.

  |

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

| Version | Description | 
| [2.0.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.0.0/) | Introduced. |

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