WordPress – Empty title placeholder

When managing a WordPress website, content editors and authors sometimes leave the title field blank, which can lead to confusion and a lack of consistency in the user interface. To address this issue, the following WordPress snippet automatically adds a placeholder text (No title) when a page or post title is left undefined.

The Code

<?php

add_filter(
    'the_title',
    function( $title ) {
        if (!is_admin() && empty($title)) {
            $title = _x( '(No title)', 'Used if post or pages has no title');
        }

        return $title;
    }
);

This code attaches a function to the the_title filter hook, which WordPress applies to the post title when it is retrieved from the database:

How to Use It

To use this snippet, simply add it to your theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin. Once added, it will automatically start providing a placeholder for any untitled content.