Bits of .NET

🔗 Beautiful URLs for Everything

Want /events/2024/summer-festival instead of /?post_type=event&event_id=123? Rewrite rules create clean, SEO-friendly URLs.

📝 Basic Rewrite Rule

function add_custom_rewrite_rules() {
    add_rewrite_rule(
        '^events/([0-9]{4})/([^/]+)/?$',
        'index.php?post_type=event&year=$matches[1]&event_slug=$matches[2]',
        'top'
    );
}
add_action('init', 'add_custom_rewrite_rules');

// Add query vars
function add_query_vars($vars) {
    $vars[] = 'year';
    $vars[] = 'event_slug';
    return $vars;
}
add_filter('query_vars', 'add_query_vars');

// Flush rules after adding (visit Settings → Permalinks once)

🎯 Example: Location-based URLs

// URL: /stores/new-york/electronics
add_rewrite_rule(
    '^stores/([^/]+)/([^/]+)/?$',
    'index.php?post_type=store&city=$matches[1]&category=$matches[2]',
    'top'
);

// URL: /product/category/laptops/gaming
add_rewrite_rule(
    '^product/category/([^/]+)/([^/]+)/?$',
    'index.php?product_category=$matches[1]&subcategory=$matches[2]',
    'top'
);

✅ Debugging Rewrite Rules

// View all rewrite rules
$rules = get_option('rewrite_rules');
echo '
' . print_r($rules, true) . '
';
// WP-CLI commands

wp rewrite list

wp rewrite flush
// Test URL matching

$match = preg_match('/^events\/([0-9]{4})\/([^\/]+)/', '/events/2024/summer', $matches);

var_dump($matches);

💡 Important: Flush Rules Only Once

• Never put flush_rewrite_rules() on every init (performance killer)
• Use register_activation_hook() to flush on plugin activation
• Or simply visit Settings → Permalinks and click Save
• Use add_rewrite_rule() inside init hook