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List Item Block: Fix deletion of empty list items with nested children#71482

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dhruvikpatel18:fix/deleting-empty-list-item-block
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List Item Block: Fix deletion of empty list items with nested children#71482
dhruvikpatel18 wants to merge 1 commit intoWordPress:trunkfrom
dhruvikpatel18:fix/deleting-empty-list-item-block

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@dhruvikpatel18 dhruvikpatel18 commented Sep 3, 2025 •
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Closes #56223

What?

Fixes the deletion behavior of empty list items that contain nested sub-items, ensuring nested items are promoted to top-level instead of being deleted entirely.

Why?

Currently, when you delete an empty list item at the top of a nested list structure, all nested items underneath are also deleted. This is unexpected behavior - users expect the nested items to be promoted to become top-level list items instead of being lost entirely. This creates a poor user experience and potential data loss.

Testing Instructions

  1. Open a post or page in the block editor
  2. Insert a List block
  3. Add a few list items with text
  4. Create nested items by indenting some items (use Tab or the indent button)
  5. Clear the content of the top-level item that has nested children (make it completely empty)
  6. Press Backspace or Delete to remove the empty item
  7. Verify that the nested items are promoted to become top-level items instead of being deleted

Screenshots or screencast

Before

List.Item.block.before.mov

After

List.Item.block.after.mov

@im3dabasia im3dabasia added [Type] Bug An existing feature does not function as intended [Block] List Affects the List Block and removed [Block] List Affects the List Block labels Sep 3, 2025
@dhruvikpatel18 dhruvikpatel18 marked this pull request as ready for review September 4, 2025 05:08
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github-actions bot commented Sep 4, 2025 •
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The following accounts have interacted with this PR and/or linked issues. I will continue to update these lists as activity occurs. You can also manually ask me to refresh this list by adding the props-bot label.

If you're merging code through a pull request on GitHub, copy and paste the following into the bottom of the merge commit message.

Co-authored-by: dhruvikpatel18 <dhruvik18@git.wordpress.org>
Co-authored-by: annezazu <annezazu@git.wordpress.org>
Co-authored-by: Mamaduka <mamaduka@git.wordpress.org>

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annezazu commented Nov 8, 2025

This worked great for me while testing! Thanks for working on it. @Mamaduka is this something you could quickly review?

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Mamaduka commented Dec 9, 2025

Sorry for the late reply. Looking at the failing e2e tests, they seem to be related to this change. We shouldn't regress other functionality, while fixing bugs :)

@dhruvikpatel18, do you mind rebasing this branch on top of the latest trunk?

@Mamaduka Mamaduka mentioned this pull request Dec 9, 2025
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Mamaduka commented Dec 12, 2025

Closing this now that #73839 is merged. I've included @dhruvikpatel18 in the props list.

Thanks again, @dhruvikpatel18!

@Mamaduka Mamaduka closed this Dec 12, 2025
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@ajitbohra ajitbohra Awaiting requested review from ajitbohra ajitbohra is a code owner

@fabiankaegy fabiankaegy Awaiting requested review from fabiankaegy fabiankaegy is a code owner

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[Block] List Affects the List Block [Type] Bug An existing feature does not function as intended

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List Block: deleting an empty list block at the top of a list deletes all items within it

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@dhruvikpatel18 @annezazu @Mamaduka @im3dabasia