Post that is "Pending Review" and Scheduled shows incorrect "Last Modified" date in Post Listing

[yearginsm]

Reproduction steps:

1. Create a new post
2. Schedule the post for a date in the future
3. Set the status to "Pending Review"
4. Save the post
5. Return to Posts listing
6. Observe that the "Date" column has an incorrect "Last Modified" flag

[yearginsm]

Settings on Post

[yearginsm]

Posts Listing

[yearginsm]

Posts Listing

[karmatosed]

Good find. I can replicate it just showing the date. As this screenshot shows, the saved post shows a different thing.

I do agree it should be consistent, either way. My advice would be to show time ago like a saved post.

[pratikgandhi]

To display the time of the modified post

[pratikgandhi]

I have added the patch to show the post modified date when the post status is draft or pending review.

[SirLouen]

Reproduction Report

Description

✅ This report validates that the issue can still be reproduced.

Environment

• WordPress: 6.9-alpha-60093-src
• PHP: 8.2.29
• Server: nginx/1.29.1
• Database: mysqli (Server: 8.4.6 / Client: mysqlnd 8.2.29)
• Browser: Chrome 140.0.0.0
• OS: Windows 10/11
• Theme: Twenty Twenty-Five 1.3
• MU Plugins: None activated
• Plugins:
  • AAA Testing Dolly
  • Health Check & Troubleshooting 1.7.1
  • Micro Email Testing 1.0.0
  • Test Reports 1.2.0

Testing Instructions

• The ones provided in the OP

Actual Results

1. ✅ Error condition occurs (reproduced).

Additional Notes

• The patch is not applying anymore, and the code has change a bit and its not valid anymore this solution. Some other solution should be rethought. I'm going to clean all kw, to have a more recent version after 8 years.

When rendering the Date column for posts in the list table, this patch changes the behavior
so that:

• For published posts, the column shows the publication date/time (as before).
• For non-published posts (draft, pending, scheduled, etc.), the column shows the post's last modified date/time.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/40860

## Summary

Fixes #40860.

The Posts list table Date column labels non-published posts as "Last Modified" but displays the post_date instead of the modified date. For a pending or draft post with a future publication date, this results in a *future* date being shown under a "Last Modified" label — which is incorrect and confusing.

### Reproduction

1. Create a new post
2. Schedule it for a date in the future
3. Set its status to *Pending Review*
4. Save, then return to the Posts list
5. The Date column shows the future date labeled "Last Modified"

Verified on the local Docker environment:

post_date (future): 2026-06-27   post_modified (now): 2026-06-20
BEFORE: Last Modified 2026/06/27 at 11:00 pm   (wrong — future date)
AFTER:  Last Modified 2026/06/20 at 11:00 pm   (correct — actual modified date)

## The fix

In WP_Posts_List_Table::column_date(), for statuses other than publish and future, display the modified date/time (via get_the_modified_time() and get_post_timestamp( $post, 'modified' )) so the date shown matches the "Last Modified" label. Published and scheduled posts continue to show the publication date as before.

## Testing

Adds unit tests to Tests_Admin_wpPostsListTable:

• test_column_date_shows_modified_date_for_pending_scheduled_post — asserts the modified date (not the future publication date) is shown for a pending+scheduled post. Fails without the fix, passes with it.
• test_column_date_uses_publication_date_for_published_and_scheduled (data provider: published, scheduled) — asserts published/scheduled posts still show the publication date and correct label.

npm run test:php -- --filter test_column_date

✔ Column date shows modified date for pending scheduled post
✔ Column date uses publication date for published and scheduled with data set "published post"
✔ Column date uses publication date for published and scheduled with data set "scheduled post"
OK (3 tests, 7 assertions)

• PHP lint: clean
• PHPCS: no new errors/warnings on the changed lines

This builds on the approach proposed in the earlier patch on the ticket, adding unit test coverage (the ticket previously had has-test-info but no automated tests).