wp_link_query not applied if method finds nothing

[msebel]

In class-wp-editor.php
​https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress/blob/master/wp-includes/class-wp-editor.php

We have the public static function wp_link_query, which allows to search for internal links. There's also the possibility to alter the query 'wp_link_query_args' and to filter the results with 'wp_link_query'

Now the problem is, if a plugin *adds* additional search results in wp_link_query, that is possible, but if the WordPress Query itself finds nothing we return false. It would be nice to apply the filter there as well, as a plugin may be able to find more results, even if WP_Query finds nothing.

So I'd propose to change

if ( ! $get_posts->post_count )
 return false;

to

if ( ! $get_posts->post_count )
 return apply_filters( 'wp_link_query', false, $query );

Behold, as I'm planning to discuss and maybe change this with @swissspidy at a contributor day tomorrow in bern switzerland.

[mitraval192]

Added patch

[msebel]

patch with docs, making sure it still returns false if filter is not used

[msebel]

patch, documentation (ideents with tabs, still learning)

[swissspidy]

In 41346:

Editor: In _WP_Editors::wp_link_query, allow filtering empty results.

Previously, it was not possible to hook into the wp_link_query filter to add custom entries when the
query returned no posts.

Props mitraval192, msebel.
Fixes #41825.

[ramiy]

@swissspidy I think the return output can be more readable.

Replace:

return ! empty( $results ) ? $results : false;

With:

return empty( $results ) ? false : $results;

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to ramiy:

I think the return output can be more readable.

Testing for non-empty results is generally more intuitive, per the ​coding standards.

We could probably just omit empty() altogether: return $results ? $results : false;