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wp user remove-role

Overview

Remove one specific role from a multi-role user. The user keeps any remaining roles they were assigned. Use this instead of set-role when you only want to revoke one of several roles.

What It Does​

wp user remove-role calls WP_User::remove_role() — removing only the specified role from the user's roles array. Other roles remain untouched.

Syntax​

wp user remove-role <user> <role>

Basic Usage​

Remove WooCommerce shop manager role from an editor​

wp user remove-role john shop_manager

Revoke temporary admin access​

wp user remove-role contractor administrator

Real-World Scenarios​

Scenario 1: Revoke all secondary roles, keep primary​

# User has: editor + shop_manager + content_reviewer
wp user remove-role john shop_manager
wp user remove-role john content_reviewer
wp user get john --field=roles
# Now: editor only

Scenario 2: Post-project cleanup​

# Remove elevated access after project completion
for user in contractor1 contractor2; do
  wp user remove-role "$user" editor
  echo "Revoked editor from $user"
done

Quick Reference​

wp user remove-role <user> <role>          # Remove one role
wp user get <user> --field=roles           # Verify remaining roles

Next Steps​