Doubt regarding permanent links to posts

Question

In my project, users can post, and I would like each post to have a permanent link so it can be accessed separately.

What I’ve already thought:

1. Create an archive php post. that would receive the id of the post via GET and display the data, could also be created a condition on . htaccess to make the URL more user friendly (however, I’m afraid of this method for security reasons).
2. Create a "posts" folder and, within it, create a folder for each post with your id, and, within it, have a index php. that would display the data. However, I believe it would consume a lot of space on the server.

What’s the best way to do this? Remembering that, I would like to do something like "/posts/idencrypted/" for the link.

Thank you!

Answer 1

What you are trying to do is called "slugify", which is to create a Slug, as a unique identifier for a resource (the post, in this case). A good example is the URL for your question here in Stackoverflow. stackoverflow.com/questions/59475/doubt-in-relation-to-permanent-links-to-posts - the Slug is not only a readable identifier for a feature, it is still completely SEO friendly. Google loves slugs.

Learn more about the subject: What is Slug? And the importance of friendly Blog Urls - ignore "on Blog", this applies to any content.

Initial structure for slugs

Have a "Slug" column in the post table, in your database. When the post is created, you generate Slug using the post title. As we will be creating a simple slug system, to avoid collisions it is recommended to attach the post ID or a unique identifier, which may be the user ID (and there is no security problem when placing the Ids).

For example:

• Title: How to create permanent links?
• Slug: how-to-permanent-links-120 (120 = post id in database)

How to redirect links to posts

If you have your application structured using MVC, you probably already bootstrap your application in just one file, probably index.php. In this case you need a rule for Apache (or Nginx) to recognize the links and pass the slugs to your application:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

For a call like http://localhost/posts/how-create-permanent-links-120, the path next to Slug will be available at $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']:

[REQUEST_URI] => /posts/como-criar-links-permanentes-120

However, if you are not structured in MVC, and use individual files for resources, for example: post.php, nothing prevents you from using query string as permanent links:

http://localhost/post.php?slug=como-criar-links-permanentes-120

So just get the Slug on $_GET['Slug'].

How to create slugs

The possibilities are endless, but I leave here some examples of functions:

No external dependencies (source):

function url_slug($str, $options = array()) {
    // Make sure string is in UTF-8 and strip invalid UTF-8 characters
    $str = mb_convert_encoding((string)$str, 'UTF-8', mb_list_encodings());

    $defaults = array(
        'delimiter' => '-',
        'limit' => null,
        'lowercase' => true,
        'replacements' => array(),
        'transliterate' => false,
    );

    // Merge options
    $options = array_merge($defaults, $options);

    $char_map = array(
        // Latin
        'À' => 'A', 'Á' => 'A', 'Â' => 'A', 'Ã' => 'A', 'Ä' => 'A', 'Å' => 'A', 'Æ' => 'AE', 'Ç' => 'C',
        'È' => 'E', 'É' => 'E', 'Ê' => 'E', 'Ë' => 'E', 'Ì' => 'I', 'Í' => 'I', 'Î' => 'I', 'Ï' => 'I',
        'Ð' => 'D', 'Ñ' => 'N', 'Ò' => 'O', 'Ó' => 'O', 'Ô' => 'O', 'Õ' => 'O', 'Ö' => 'O', 'Ő' => 'O',
        'Ø' => 'O', 'Ù' => 'U', 'Ú' => 'U', 'Û' => 'U', 'Ü' => 'U', 'Ű' => 'U', 'Ý' => 'Y', 'Þ' => 'TH',
        'ß' => 'ss',
        'à' => 'a', 'á' => 'a', 'â' => 'a', 'ã' => 'a', 'ä' => 'a', 'å' => 'a', 'æ' => 'ae', 'ç' => 'c',
        'è' => 'e', 'é' => 'e', 'ê' => 'e', 'ë' => 'e', 'ì' => 'i', 'í' => 'i', 'î' => 'i', 'ï' => 'i',
        'ð' => 'd', 'ñ' => 'n', 'ò' => 'o', 'ó' => 'o', 'ô' => 'o', 'õ' => 'o', 'ö' => 'o', 'ő' => 'o',
        'ø' => 'o', 'ù' => 'u', 'ú' => 'u', 'û' => 'u', 'ü' => 'u', 'ű' => 'u', 'ý' => 'y', 'þ' => 'th',
        'ÿ' => 'y',
        // Latin symbols
        '©' => '(c)',
        // Greek
        'Α' => 'A', 'Β' => 'B', 'Γ' => 'G', 'Δ' => 'D', 'Ε' => 'E', 'Ζ' => 'Z', 'Η' => 'H', 'Θ' => '8',
        'Ι' => 'I', 'Κ' => 'K', 'Λ' => 'L', 'Μ' => 'M', 'Ν' => 'N', 'Ξ' => '3', 'Ο' => 'O', 'Π' => 'P',
        'Ρ' => 'R', 'Σ' => 'S', 'Τ' => 'T', 'Υ' => 'Y', 'Φ' => 'F', 'Χ' => 'X', 'Ψ' => 'PS', 'Ω' => 'W',
        'Ά' => 'A', 'Έ' => 'E', 'Ί' => 'I', 'Ό' => 'O', 'Ύ' => 'Y', 'Ή' => 'H', 'Ώ' => 'W', 'Ϊ' => 'I',
        'Ϋ' => 'Y',
        'α' => 'a', 'β' => 'b', 'γ' => 'g', 'δ' => 'd', 'ε' => 'e', 'ζ' => 'z', 'η' => 'h', 'θ' => '8',
        'ι' => 'i', 'κ' => 'k', 'λ' => 'l', 'μ' => 'm', 'ν' => 'n', 'ξ' => '3', 'ο' => 'o', 'π' => 'p',
        'ρ' => 'r', 'σ' => 's', 'τ' => 't', 'υ' => 'y', 'φ' => 'f', 'χ' => 'x', 'ψ' => 'ps', 'ω' => 'w',
        'ά' => 'a', 'έ' => 'e', 'ί' => 'i', 'ό' => 'o', 'ύ' => 'y', 'ή' => 'h', 'ώ' => 'w', 'ς' => 's',
        'ϊ' => 'i', 'ΰ' => 'y', 'ϋ' => 'y', 'ΐ' => 'i',
        // Turkish
        'Ş' => 'S', 'İ' => 'I', 'Ç' => 'C', 'Ü' => 'U', 'Ö' => 'O', 'Ğ' => 'G',
        'ş' => 's', 'ı' => 'i', 'ç' => 'c', 'ü' => 'u', 'ö' => 'o', 'ğ' => 'g',
        // Russian
        'А' => 'A', 'Б' => 'B', 'В' => 'V', 'Г' => 'G', 'Д' => 'D', 'Е' => 'E', 'Ё' => 'Yo', 'Ж' => 'Zh',
        'З' => 'Z', 'И' => 'I', 'Й' => 'J', 'К' => 'K', 'Л' => 'L', 'М' => 'M', 'Н' => 'N', 'О' => 'O',
        'П' => 'P', 'Р' => 'R', 'С' => 'S', 'Т' => 'T', 'У' => 'U', 'Ф' => 'F', 'Х' => 'H', 'Ц' => 'C',
        'Ч' => 'Ch', 'Ш' => 'Sh', 'Щ' => 'Sh', 'Ъ' => '', 'Ы' => 'Y', 'Ь' => '', 'Э' => 'E', 'Ю' => 'Yu',
        'Я' => 'Ya',
        'а' => 'a', 'б' => 'b', 'в' => 'v', 'г' => 'g', 'д' => 'd', 'е' => 'e', 'ё' => 'yo', 'ж' => 'zh',
        'з' => 'z', 'и' => 'i', 'й' => 'j', 'к' => 'k', 'л' => 'l', 'м' => 'm', 'н' => 'n', 'о' => 'o',
        'п' => 'p', 'р' => 'r', 'с' => 's', 'т' => 't', 'у' => 'u', 'ф' => 'f', 'х' => 'h', 'ц' => 'c',
        'ч' => 'ch', 'ш' => 'sh', 'щ' => 'sh', 'ъ' => '', 'ы' => 'y', 'ь' => '', 'э' => 'e', 'ю' => 'yu',
        'я' => 'ya',
        // Ukrainian
        'Є' => 'Ye', 'І' => 'I', 'Ї' => 'Yi', 'Ґ' => 'G',
        'є' => 'ye', 'і' => 'i', 'ї' => 'yi', 'ґ' => 'g',
        // Czech
        'Č' => 'C', 'Ď' => 'D', 'Ě' => 'E', 'Ň' => 'N', 'Ř' => 'R', 'Š' => 'S', 'Ť' => 'T', 'Ů' => 'U',
        'Ž' => 'Z',
        'č' => 'c', 'ď' => 'd', 'ě' => 'e', 'ň' => 'n', 'ř' => 'r', 'š' => 's', 'ť' => 't', 'ů' => 'u',
        'ž' => 'z',
        // Polish
        'Ą' => 'A', 'Ć' => 'C', 'Ę' => 'e', 'Ł' => 'L', 'Ń' => 'N', 'Ó' => 'o', 'Ś' => 'S', 'Ź' => 'Z',
        'Ż' => 'Z',
        'ą' => 'a', 'ć' => 'c', 'ę' => 'e', 'ł' => 'l', 'ń' => 'n', 'ó' => 'o', 'ś' => 's', 'ź' => 'z',
        'ż' => 'z',
        // Latvian
        'Ā' => 'A', 'Č' => 'C', 'Ē' => 'E', 'Ģ' => 'G', 'Ī' => 'i', 'Ķ' => 'k', 'Ļ' => 'L', 'Ņ' => 'N',
        'Š' => 'S', 'Ū' => 'u', 'Ž' => 'Z',
        'ā' => 'a', 'č' => 'c', 'ē' => 'e', 'ģ' => 'g', 'ī' => 'i', 'ķ' => 'k', 'ļ' => 'l', 'ņ' => 'n',
        'š' => 's', 'ū' => 'u', 'ž' => 'z'
    );

    // Make custom replacements
    $str = preg_replace(array_keys($options['replacements']), $options['replacements'], $str);

    // Transliterate characters to ASCII
    if ($options['transliterate']) {
        $str = str_replace(array_keys($char_map), $char_map, $str);
    }

    // Replace non-alphanumeric characters with our delimiter
    $str = preg_replace('/[^\p{L}\p{Nd}]+/u', $options['delimiter'], $str);

    // Remove duplicate delimiters
    $str = preg_replace('/(' . preg_quote($options['delimiter'], '/') . '){2,}/', '$1', $str);

    // Truncate slug to max. characters
    $str = mb_substr($str, 0, ($options['limit'] ? $options['limit'] : mb_strlen($str, 'UTF-8')), 'UTF-8');

    // Remove delimiter from ends
    $str = trim($str, $options['delimiter']);

    return $options['lowercase'] ? mb_strtolower($str, 'UTF-8') : $str;
}

How to use:

echo url_slug("olá titulo do meu post", ['transliterate' => true]);
ola-titulo-do-meu-post

Or a lean function using the iconv library (source):

function slugify($text)
{
    $text = iconv('utf-8', 'us-ascii//TRANSLIT', $text);
    return strtolower(preg_replace('/[^A-Za-z0-9-]+/', '-', $text));
}

echo slugify("olá titulo do meu post");
// Resultado: ol-a-titulo-do-meu-post

Additional Information

Using Permanent Links (Wordpress)

Answer 2

You can create a field in the table, and save your encrypted id, then when you go to get the DB data you compare the two, this way:

$idCriptografada = md5(1); // o id seria 1

$sql = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM tabela WHERE id_criptografado='".$idCriptografada."'");

That way you could get the data.

OBS.: used the md5() like exeplo, you can use any other method you want.