Hide single menu item from users without a specific role (without 3rd party module)

Question

I have a menu and would like to hide a specific item if the currently authenticated users doesn't have the "editor" role, which i created.

Since this is such a small thing, i would like to achieve that without the use of a 3rd party module.

update::

This is not about security, I just want to hide the item regardless of the linked node's permission. In my specific case I'm even linking to a public node and just want to hide the menu item as long as the user hasn't the "editor" role.

Answer 1

Use hook_menu_item_link to alter menu items. See below example:

function mytheme_menu_item_link( $link ) {
  if( $link[ 'title' ] == 'My Account') {
    return '';
  }
}

Answer 2

If security is not that important. This should kinda do the trick (untested code).

function YourTheme_menu_link(array $variables) {
  if ($variables['element']['#href'] == 'menu link to hide') {
    $variables['element']['#attributes']['class'][] = 'invisible';
  }

 return theme_menu_link($variables);
}