Title: Walker_Page::start_el
Published: April 25, 2014
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# Walker_Page::start_el( string $output, WP_Post $data_object, int $depth, array $args = array(), int $current_object_id )

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#description)
    - [See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#see-also)
 * [Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#parameters)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Hooks](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#hooks)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Outputs the beginning of the current element in the tree.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

### 󠀁[See also](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#see-also)󠁿

 * [Walker::start_el()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/Walker/start_el/)

## 󠀁[Parameters](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#parameters)󠁿

 `$output`stringrequired

Used to append additional content. Passed by reference.

`$data_object`[WP_Post](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_post/)
required

Page data object.

`$depth`intoptional

Depth of page. Used for padding. Default 0.

`$args`arrayoptional

Array of arguments.

Default:`array()`

`$current_object_id`intoptional

ID of the current page. Default 0.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    public function start_el( &$output, $data_object, $depth = 0, $args = array(), $current_object_id = 0 ) {
    	// Restores the more descriptive, specific name for use within this method.
    	$page = $data_object;

    	$current_page_id = $current_object_id;

    	if ( isset( $args['item_spacing'] ) && 'preserve' === $args['item_spacing'] ) {
    		$t = "\t";
    		$n = "\n";
    	} else {
    		$t = '';
    		$n = '';
    	}
    	if ( $depth ) {
    		$indent = str_repeat( $t, $depth );
    	} else {
    		$indent = '';
    	}

    	$css_class = array( 'page_item', 'page-item-' . $page->ID );

    	if ( isset( $args['pages_with_children'][ $page->ID ] ) ) {
    		$css_class[] = 'page_item_has_children';
    	}

    	if ( ! empty( $current_page_id ) ) {
    		$_current_page = get_post( $current_page_id );

    		if ( $_current_page && in_array( $page->ID, $_current_page->ancestors, true ) ) {
    			$css_class[] = 'current_page_ancestor';
    		}

    		if ( $page->ID === (int) $current_page_id ) {
    			$css_class[] = 'current_page_item';
    		} elseif ( $_current_page && $page->ID === $_current_page->post_parent ) {
    			$css_class[] = 'current_page_parent';
    		}
    	} elseif ( (int) get_option( 'page_for_posts' ) === $page->ID ) {
    		$css_class[] = 'current_page_parent';
    	}

    	/**
    	 * Filters the list of CSS classes to include with each page item in the list.
    	 *
    	 * @since 2.8.0
    	 *
    	 * @see wp_list_pages()
    	 *
    	 * @param string[] $css_class       An array of CSS classes to be applied to each list item.
    	 * @param WP_Post  $page            Page data object.
    	 * @param int      $depth           Depth of page, used for padding.
    	 * @param array    $args            An array of arguments.
    	 * @param int      $current_page_id ID of the current page.
    	 */
    	$css_classes = implode( ' ', apply_filters( 'page_css_class', $css_class, $page, $depth, $args, $current_page_id ) );
    	$css_classes = $css_classes ? ' class="' . esc_attr( $css_classes ) . '"' : '';

    	if ( '' === $page->post_title ) {
    		/* translators: %d: ID of a post. */
    		$page->post_title = sprintf( __( '#%d (no title)' ), $page->ID );
    	}

    	$args['link_before'] = empty( $args['link_before'] ) ? '' : $args['link_before'];
    	$args['link_after']  = empty( $args['link_after'] ) ? '' : $args['link_after'];

    	$atts                 = array();
    	$atts['href']         = get_permalink( $page->ID );
    	$atts['aria-current'] = ( $page->ID === (int) $current_page_id ) ? 'page' : '';

    	/**
    	 * Filters the HTML attributes applied to a page menu item's anchor element.
    	 *
    	 * @since 4.8.0
    	 *
    	 * @param array $atts {
    	 *     The HTML attributes applied to the menu item's `<a>` element, empty strings are ignored.
    	 *
    	 *     @type string $href         The href attribute.
    	 *     @type string $aria-current The aria-current attribute.
    	 * }
    	 * @param WP_Post $page            Page data object.
    	 * @param int     $depth           Depth of page, used for padding.
    	 * @param array   $args            An array of arguments.
    	 * @param int     $current_page_id ID of the current page.
    	 */
    	$atts = apply_filters( 'page_menu_link_attributes', $atts, $page, $depth, $args, $current_page_id );

    	$attributes = '';
    	foreach ( $atts as $attr => $value ) {
    		if ( is_scalar( $value ) && '' !== $value && false !== $value ) {
    			$value       = ( 'href' === $attr ) ? esc_url( $value ) : esc_attr( $value );
    			$attributes .= ' ' . $attr . '="' . $value . '"';
    		}
    	}

    	$output .= $indent . sprintf(
    		'<li%s><a%s>%s%s%s</a>',
    		$css_classes,
    		$attributes,
    		$args['link_before'],
    		/** This filter is documented in wp-includes/post-template.php */
    		apply_filters( 'the_title', $page->post_title, $page->ID ),
    		$args['link_after']
    	);

    	if ( ! empty( $args['show_date'] ) ) {
    		if ( 'modified' === $args['show_date'] ) {
    			$time = $page->post_modified;
    		} else {
    			$time = $page->post_date;
    		}

    		$date_format = empty( $args['date_format'] ) ? '' : $args['date_format'];
    		$output     .= ' ' . mysql2date( $date_format, $time );
    	}
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/class-walker-page.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/class-walker-page.php#L105)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/class-walker-page.php#L105-L220)

## 󠀁[Hooks](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#hooks)󠁿

 [apply_filters( ‘page_css_class’, string[] $css_class, WP_Post $page, int $depth, array $args, int $current_page_id )](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/page_css_class/)

Filters the list of CSS classes to include with each page item in the list.

 [apply_filters( ‘page_menu_link_attributes’, array $atts, WP_Post $page, int $depth, array $args, int $current_page_id )](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/page_menu_link_attributes/)

Filters the HTML attributes applied to a page menu item’s anchor element.

 [apply_filters( ‘the_title’, string $post_title, int $post_id )](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/the_title/)

Filters the post title.

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [mysql2date()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/mysql2date/)`wp-includes/functions.php` |

Converts given MySQL date string into a different format.

  | 
| [__()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/__/)`wp-includes/l10n.php` |

Retrieves the translation of $text.

  | 
| [esc_attr()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/esc_attr/)`wp-includes/formatting.php` |

Escaping for HTML attributes.

  | 
| [esc_url()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/esc_url/)`wp-includes/formatting.php` |

Checks and cleans a URL.

  | 
| [get_permalink()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_permalink/)`wp-includes/link-template.php` |

Retrieves the full permalink for the current post or post ID.

  | 
| [apply_filters()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/apply_filters/)`wp-includes/plugin.php` |

Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.

  | 
| [get_option()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_option/)`wp-includes/option.php` |

Retrieves an option value based on an option name.

  | 
| [get_post()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_post/)`wp-includes/post.php` |

Retrieves post data given a post ID or post object.

  |

[Show 6 more](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#)
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## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/walker_page/start_el/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [5.9.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/5.9.0/) | Renamed `$page` to `$data_object` and `$current_page` to `$current_object_id` to match parent class for PHP 8 named parameter support. | 
| [2.1.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/2.1.0/) | Introduced. |

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