id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	priority	milestone	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc	focuses
65508	Introduce wp_get_user_roles() helper function	salmanshafiq8630		"## Summary

Introduce a new helper function, `wp_get_user_roles()`, to provide a public API for retrieving the roles assigned to a user.

Currently, developers need to retrieve a `WP_User` object and access its public `roles` property directly:

```php
$user  = get_userdata( $user_id );
$roles = $user ? $user->roles : array();
```

This requires knowledge of the internal structure of the `WP_User` object and exposes a public property instead of using a dedicated API.

## Proposed solution

Add a new helper function to `wp-includes/user.php`:

```php
/**
 * Retrieves the roles assigned to a user.
 *
 * @since 7.1
 *
 * @param int $user_id User ID.
 * @return string[] Array of role slugs. Returns an empty array if the user does not exist or has no assigned roles.
 */
function wp_get_user_roles( $user_id ) {
	$user = get_userdata( $user_id );

	if ( ! $user instanceof WP_User || empty( $user->roles ) ) {
		return array();
	}

	return $user->roles;
}
```

## Benefits

* Provides a dedicated public API for retrieving user roles.
* Avoids direct access to the `WP_User::$roles` property.
* Improves readability and consistency with existing user helper functions such as `wp_get_current_user()`.
* Simplifies a common pattern used by plugins and themes.

## Unit tests

Tests should cover:

* Valid user with a single role.
* Valid user with multiple roles.
* Invalid user ID.
* User with no assigned roles.
"	feature request	new	normal	Awaiting Review	Users	7.0	normal		2nd-opinion has-patch