use the hook!

It is easy to go in and hack the core WordPress files to change the hard-coded number, but I wanted to find a way to do it with a hook.  That way, I could one day change the number of posts shown using controls in the interface.

Though there is no filter provided for the number of posts displayed, I hit upon a method of doing this which I would like to share.  Perhaps someone will point out a better way, but for now this is making me happy

The trick is to hijack the query string just for the query that produces the table of posts.  Here’s what I did:

/**  * Extend the number of posts displayed in the Edit Posts  */ 
function dapl_query_string($query_string) {   
    global $pagenow;   
    if (is_admin() && $pagenow == 'edit.php') {
        $query_string = str_replace('posts_per_page=15', 'posts_per_page=100', $query_string); 
    }
    return $query_string; 
}  
add_filter('query_string', 'dapl_query_string');