Posts list table: Add Standard option to Formats filter dropdown

[shrivastavanolo]

The Formats filter dropdown in the admin posts list table did not have a "Standard" option, so users could not filter for posts without an assigned post format. This was inconsistent with the Categories filter (which has an "Uncategorized" option) and removed a workflow that existed before the formats dropdown was introduced — distinguishing standard posts from formatted ones.

Added a "Standard" option that uses a NOT EXISTS tax_query to correctly find posts without a format.

Trac ticket:
https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/47675

Use of AI Tools

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Used for: Initial code skeleton; final implementation was edited and tested by me.

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This Pull Request is for code review only. Please keep all other discussion in the Trac ticket. Do not merge this Pull Request. See GitHub Pull Requests for Code Review in the Core Handbook for more details.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR adds a “Standard” option to the admin Posts list table “Formats” filter so users can filter for posts without an assigned post format (i.e., standard posts), aligning the workflow with other filters like Categories.

Changes:

• Add a “Standard” option to the Formats dropdown in the posts list table.
• Extend _post_format_request() to translate post_format=standard into a tax_query using NOT EXISTS to match posts with no format term.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
src/wp-includes/post-formats.php	Adds request parsing for post_format=standard by building a NOT EXISTS tax_query.
src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-posts-list-table.php	Adds a “Standard” option to the Formats filter dropdown in the admin list table UI.

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[github-actions]

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

src/wp-includes/post-formats.php:177

• The new post_format=standard behavior (translating it into a tax_query with NOT EXISTS) is not covered by unit tests. Adding a test that creates one formatted post and one unformatted post and asserts that new WP_Query( array( 'post_format' => 'standard' ) ) only returns the unformatted post would help prevent regressions.

		if ( 'standard' === $qvs['post_format'] ) {
			unset( $qvs['post_format'] );
			$qvs['tax_query'][] = array(
				'taxonomy' => 'post_format',
				'operator' => 'NOT EXISTS',
			);

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (2)

src/wp-includes/post-formats.php:177

• The new "standard" handling in _post_format_request() is behaviorally important (it changes how post_format=standard is parsed into a tax_query with NOT EXISTS). There are existing post format unit tests, but none currently cover request parsing; adding a test would prevent regressions (e.g., ensuring post_format is unset, a NOT EXISTS clause is added, and admin queries don’t have post_type overridden).

		if ( 'standard' === $qvs['post_format'] ) {
			unset( $qvs['post_format'] );
			$qvs['tax_query'][] = array(
				'taxonomy' => 'post_format',
				'operator' => 'NOT EXISTS',
			);

src/wp-includes/post-formats.php:184

• The if ( ! is_admin() ) { guard was removed but the closing brace remains, which leaves a stray } and causes a PHP parse error. It also makes $qvs['post_type'] get set unconditionally. Restore the is_admin() conditional so the filter remains valid and doesn’t modify admin queries.

	$tax = get_taxonomy( 'post_format' );
		$qvs['post_type'] = $tax->object_type;
	}

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (3)

src/wp-includes/post-formats.php:177

• New behavior for handling post_format=standard (mapping it to a NOT EXISTS tax_query) isn’t covered by tests. Adding PHPUnit coverage for _post_format_request (e.g., asserting it produces a NOT EXISTS tax_query and does not emit warnings when tax_query is initially absent) would help prevent regressions.

		if ( 'standard' === $qvs['post_format'] ) {
			unset( $qvs['post_format'] );
			$qvs['tax_query'][] = array(
				'taxonomy' => 'post_format',
				'operator' => 'NOT EXISTS',
			);

src/wp-includes/post-formats.php:178

• Appending to $qvs['tax_query'][] without ensuring the key exists (and is an array) can trigger PHP 8+ “Undefined array key 'tax_query'” warnings when handling the admin list table request. Initialize tax_query to an array before appending the NOT EXISTS clause.

			unset( $qvs['post_format'] );
			$qvs['tax_query'][] = array(
				'taxonomy' => 'post_format',
				'operator' => 'NOT EXISTS',
			);

src/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-posts-list-table.php:544

• The new “Standard” option in the Formats filter dropdown is a user-facing behavior change but currently has no automated coverage. Consider adding an admin list table PHPUnit test that asserts the option renders when formats exist and that selecting it filters to posts with no post_format term.

			<option<?php selected( $displayed_post_format, 'standard' ); ?> value="standard"><?php echo esc_html( get_post_format_string( 'standard' ) ); ?></option>