filters - How to stop WordPress from changing ellipsis into a pre-composed triple-dot glyph?

When I type an ellipsis composed of three separate dots ..., WordPress displays the pre-composed triple-dot glyph … instead.

Is there any way to prevent WordPress from substitution the three dots?

When I type an ellipsis composed of three separate dots ..., WordPress displays the pre-composed triple-dot glyph … instead.

Is there any way to prevent WordPress from substitution the three dots?

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Share Improve this question edited Mar 12, 2012 at 3:43 fuxia♦ 107k3939 gold badges255255 silver badges461461 bronze badges asked Mar 12, 2012 at 2:38 Philip SeyfiPhilip Seyfi 1511111 bronze badges 3

• Just out of curiosity: Where do you need three dots? – fuxia ♦ Commented Mar 12, 2012 at 3:42
• Just out of personal preference... There are also several style guides that recommend ... instead of … The ellipsis character did not exist before the advent of computers and in my humble opinion should not be used outside of a few specific use cases. – Philip Seyfi Commented Mar 12, 2012 at 19:51
• How wide an ellipsis is depends on the font. Semantically it is one character, hence the separate Unicode code point U+2026. It is also easier for automatic translation tools and screen readers if you use the special character. – fuxia ♦ Commented Mar 12, 2012 at 19:57

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5 Answers 5

Sorted by: Reset to default 2

Three dots are converted to the typographically correct ellipsis … in wptexturize(). You can disable it in many cases, see my plugin Disable Wptexturize.

That conversion - among others - is caused by the wptexturize() filter being applied to the_content().

The sledge-hammer approach to preventing wp_texturize() being applied to the_content() is simply to remove the filter, like so:

<?php
remove_filter( 'the_content', 'wptexturize' );
?>

Another option is to use the plugin wp-Typography, which can override WordPress's native character replacements. If you disable the changes you don't want in the plugin, they won't show up in the front-end anymore.

Instead of removing the entire wptexturize filter, I think a better approach to this issue is to let wptexturize() run and then undo the replaced ellipsis glyph with the three dots.

The filter is run at a priority of 11 so that it runs after wptexturize().

function wpse_45245_the_content( $content )
{
  return str_replace( '…', '...', $content );
}
add_filter( 'the_content', 'wpse_45245_the_content', 11 );

Note that this only replaces it in the_content filter, if you want it replaced in the_excerpt, the_title, etc., then you'll need to add those filters as well.

Several possibilities, based on the use of a shortcode called '...' (Yes, that's a legal shortcode name.)

• Exempt the shortcode via the no_texturize_shortcodes filter.
• Have the shortcode wrap the three period characters with a <code> tag (which is by default exempted from texturizing, so no filter is needed).
• Similar to the above, but wrap it in a <span>, and use CSS to have it rendered in a font with an ellipsis character whose look you prefer (would need the filter this way).