#64250 - Refactor redirect_guess_404_permalink to use WP_Query instead of raw SQL #10531

anandrajaram21 · 2025-11-19T16:39:09Z

The redirect_guess_404_permalink() function in src/wp-includes/canonical.php has been refactored to replace direct SQL queries with WordPress's native WP_Query abstraction layer.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/64250

This Pull Request is for code review only. Please keep all other discussion in the Trac ticket. Do not merge this Pull Request. See GitHub Pull Requests for Code Review in the Core Handbook for more details.

…alink()

github-actions · 2025-11-19T16:39:20Z

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github-actions · 2025-11-19T16:39:34Z

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github-actions · 2025-11-19T16:54:47Z

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src/wp-includes/canonical.php

anandrajaram21 · 2025-11-20T09:28:06Z

@westonruter I've resolved the comments. Seeking clarification on one comment and requesting for a re-review

westonruter

This looks really good to me. I'll leave for @spacedmonkey to give final approval.

spacedmonkey

I think we need to tweak WP_Query a little and this should be good to go.

spacedmonkey · 2025-12-03T09:40:48Z

src/wp-includes/canonical.php

+			// For loose matching (LIKE), we'll use a posts_where filter.
+			$post_name_for_filter = get_query_var( 'name' );
+
+			// Store the filter callback so we can remove it later.
+			$post_name_where_filter = static function ( $where, $query ) use ( $post_name_for_filter, $wpdb ) {
+				// Only apply to our specific query.
+				if ( isset( $query->query_vars['redirect_guess_404'] ) ) {
+					$where .= $wpdb->prepare( " AND {$wpdb->posts}.post_name LIKE %s", $wpdb->esc_like( $post_name_for_filter ) . '%' );
+				}
+				return $where;
+			};
+
+			add_filter( 'posts_where', $post_name_where_filter, 10, 2 );
+
+			// Mark this query so our filter knows to apply the LIKE clause.
+			$query_args['redirect_guess_404'] = true;


Suggested change

// For loose matching (LIKE), we'll use a posts_where filter.

$post_name_for_filter = get_query_var( 'name' );

// Store the filter callback so we can remove it later.

$post_name_where_filter = static function ( $where, $query ) use ( $post_name_for_filter, $wpdb ) {

// Only apply to our specific query.

if ( isset( $query->query_vars['redirect_guess_404'] ) ) {

$where .= $wpdb->prepare( " AND {$wpdb->posts}.post_name LIKE %s", $wpdb->esc_like( $post_name_for_filter ) . '%' );

}

return $where;

};

add_filter( 'posts_where', $post_name_where_filter, 10, 2 );

// Mark this query so our filter knows to apply the LIKE clause.

$query_args['redirect_guess_404'] = true;

$query_args['s'] = get_query_var( 'name' );

$query_args['search_columns'] = array( 'post_name' );

Currently, WP_Query does not support search column of post name, but it is a very small tweak to make this happen.

spacedmonkey · 2025-12-03T09:41:35Z

src/wp-includes/canonical.php

+		// Clean up the filter if we added it (remove only our specific callback).
+		if ( ! $strict_guess && isset( $post_name_where_filter ) ) {
+			remove_filter( 'posts_where', $post_name_where_filter, 10 );
+		}


Suggested change

// Clean up the filter if we added it (remove only our specific callback).

if ( ! $strict_guess && isset( $post_name_where_filter ) ) {

remove_filter( 'posts_where', $post_name_where_filter, 10 );

}

Should not be needed once WP_Query is tweaked.

spacedmonkey · 2025-12-03T09:50:36Z

@westonruter @anandrajaram21 I have put together a little PR to use WP_Query without a filter. 4c87073. Completely untested, but this is how I think this should work.

westonruter · 2025-12-03T18:33:09Z

@spacedmonkey Clever. So you're leveraging the search capabilities of WP_Query to implement fuzzy redirect guessing, specifically via restricting the search_columns to just include the post_name.

Full diff from base: 33c8d7e...4c87073

westonruter · 2025-12-03T22:09:36Z

In looking at #10590, which has the aforementioned commit, unit tests are failing.

anandrajaram21 · 2025-12-04T17:52:31Z

@spacedmonkey This approach makes sense. I'll try this out, however as @westonruter mentioned, the tests do not pass, so I'll try making the tests pass while keeping the core idea in mind. Thanks for the input!

spacedmonkey · 2025-12-05T23:20:23Z

@anandrajaram21 Here is the full changeset Full diff from base:
33c8d7e...ff81f88

I had to make some more tweaks to WP_Query, but it seems to be working. It needs unit tests and testing.

refactor: replace direct SQL with WP_Query in redirect_guess_404_perm…

ae6a847

…alink()

anandrajaram21 changed the title ~~refactor: replace direct SQL with WP_Query in redirect_guess_404_perm…~~ #64250 - Refactor redirect_guess_404_permalink to use WP_Query instead of raw SQL Nov 19, 2025

westonruter reviewed Nov 19, 2025

View reviewed changes

perf: optimize wp query and remove superfluous comments

ce90699

chore: change filter function to a static function

9b52804

westonruter approved these changes Nov 26, 2025

View reviewed changes

westonruter requested a review from spacedmonkey November 26, 2025 04:01

spacedmonkey requested changes Dec 3, 2025

View reviewed changes

#64250 - Refactor redirect_guess_404_permalink to use WP_Query instead of raw SQL #10531

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