$user->can($action)

Up: class User

This determines whether this User is authorized to perform the requested action. It has one parameter:

parameter	description
$action	A string identifying the action that the calling script requires.

This method returns true if the User is authorized to perform the function. This always returns true for an administrator, that is a User who has $user‑>get('auth') == 'yes'. It returns true if the requested capability appears as a token in the value of field 'auth'. It returns false for casual visitors.

Next: $user->get($fieldName)