author_can() WP 2.9.0

Checks whether the author of the supplied post has a specific capability.

1 time — 0.002667 sec (very slow) | 50000 times — 1.86 sec (fast) | PHP 7.1.11, WP 4.9.4

No Hooks.

Return

true|false. Whether the post author has the given capability.

Usage

author_can( $post, $capability );

$post(int/WP_Post) (required): Post ID or post object.
$capability(string) (required): Capability name.

Examples

#1 Check whether the author of the current post ($post->ID) can publish posts:

if( author_can($post->ID, 'publish_posts') ){
	echo 'The author of the post can publish posts";
}

Changelog

Since 2.9.0	Introduced.
Since 5.3.0	Formalized the existing and already documented `...$args` parameter by adding it to the function signature.

Code of `author_can() author can` ^{WP 5.7.2}

wp-includes/capabilities.php

<?php
function author_can( $post, $capability, ...$args ) {
	$post = get_post( $post );
	if ( ! $post ) {
		return false;
	}

	$author = get_userdata( $post->post_author );

	if ( ! $author ) {
		return false;
	}

	return $author->has_cap( $capability, ...$args );
}