Make hierarchy level indicator text changeable [WP List]

[gk.loveweb]

In WP_Posts_List_Table class, dashes(—) used to indicate the hierarchy level of post item, which is not changeble by any filter, we can add a new filter to replace this string.

$pad = str_repeat( '— ', $this->current_level );

​https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress/blob/master/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-posts-list-table.php#L918-L919

Source: ​http://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/248405/replace-dashes-before-title-in-page-list

[valentinbora]

Thanks for the ticket @gkloveweb. I believe it makes sense to allow this to be tweakable so I've marked it accordingly.

It also seems like an easy to do change, so I've marked it as good-first-bug for new contributors to tackle.

[rebasaurus]

Adding filter 'post_title_child_separator'

[seanchayes]

I downloaded and tested this patch.

It worked as expected and I was easily able to change the separator used for the hierarchy post separator by adding the filter to my functions.php and trying out different combinations.

One code change I would suggest is to rename name the variable used from $pad to $separator - as I believe this would more closely match the name of the suggested filter naming.

[mayankmajeji]

39106.diff

[mayankmajeji]

I completely agree with @seanchayes and changed $pad to $separator as it makes more sense and semantically correct. I also cross-checked for the conflicts and find zero conflicts.

[10010110]

I would suggest an even simpler fix without the need of a filter: just add an element around the character so that it can be accessed by a CSS selector, and have the user add custom admin CSS to hide it (or whatever), like so:

$pad = str_repeat( '<span class="dash">&#8212; </span>', $this->current_level );

## Summary

WP_Posts_List_Table::column_title() built the hierarchical indent with a hardcoded em dash string repeated per level. This adds a filter — post_title_child_separator — so the per-level separator can be changed while preserving default output (— ) when the filter is not used.

Props rebasaurus, mayankmajeji, and seanchayes for earlier patches and discussion on the ticket.

## Testing

• phpunit (filtered): post_title_child_separator in tests/phpunit/tests/admin/wpPostsListTable.php

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/39106

## Use of AI Tools

AI assistance: Yes
Tool(s): Cursor (AI-assisted editor)
Used for: Implementation and PHPUnit coverage; I reviewed the result and ran tests locally before opening this PR.

Introduces the post_title_child_separator filter in WP_Posts_List_Table::column_title(), allowing the hardcoded em-dash hierarchy indicator to be replaced with a custom string. The separator string is passed through the filter once and then repeated per hierarchy level.

Renames the internal $pad variable to $separator for clarity.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/39106

## Use of AI Tools