Custom page with variables in url. Nice url with add_rewrite_rule

Using WP3.1

I Have a custom page with a WP_Query and the query gets dynamic variables from the url. And i want safe variables and clean urls.

Example:

carpage/?carmodel=honda&location=finland

TO

carpage/honda/finland/

I made add_rewrite_rule in to functions.php and it works, but iam not sure it’s safe to use this.

Functions.php

  function fcars() {

  add_rewrite_rule('carpage/[/]?([a-zA-Z-]*)[/]?([a-zA-Z-]*)$', 'index.php?pagename=carpage&var1=$matches[1]&var2=$matches[2]');

  add_rewrite_tag('%var1%', '[a-zA-Z]+');
  add_rewrite_tag('%var2%', '[a-zA-Z]+');
}

add_action('init', 'fcars');

And in Custom template i get the vars

Could someone please help me with this. How can i make this safe to use and is this the right way in WP3.1

What is the right way to make add_rewrite_rule in this case:

carpage/honda/finland/

(just hyphens and small letters in url) carpage is the static template page.

Answers:

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Method 1

I think the add_rewrite_tag() is not needed, and can be replaced with adding the variables to the public query vars directly:

// Either directly (in your init hook):
$wp->add_query_var( 'var1' );
$wp->add_query_var( 'var2' );

// Or via a filter:
add_filter( 'query_vars', 'wpse12965_query_vars' );
function wpse12965_query_vars( $query_vars )
{
    $query_vars[] = 'var1';
    $query_vars[] = 'var2';
    return $query_vars;
}

Also, you currently allow one or two slashes in front but none at the back. I think you want to move the /? to the end of the regex. The [a-zA-Z-] part for the slug is also sometimes written as [^/] (everything but a slash), but in this case it probably won’t make a difference.

I would write the rewrite rule like this:

add_action( 'init', 'wpse12065_init' );
function wpse12065_init()
{
    add_rewrite_rule(
        'carpage(/([^/]+))?(/([^/]+))?/?',
        'index.php?pagename=carpage&var1=$matches[2]&var2=$matches[4]',
        'top'
    );
}

The (/([^/]+))? makes the whole group optional, so /carpage, /carpage/honda and /carpage/honda/finland should work, with an optional slash at the end. Because we need an extra group for the /, the variables are in the next capture group, so what was $matches[1] becomes $matches[2] and $matches[2] becomes $matches[4].

If you want to debug your rewrite rules I recommend my Rewrite analyzer plugin, it lets you play with the URL and see the resulting query variables.

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0