Redirect Trashed Posts to Their Category
Remembers the address of each post or page you move to the trash and sends later visitors to its category, parent page or the blog page instead of a 404, even after the trash is emptied.
Opens WPIDE on
Code
// Post types to remember; when one is trashed, its old address leads to its first category (posts)
// or its parent page (pages), and otherwise to the blog page.
$wpide_removed_types = array( 'post', 'page' );
// How many old addresses to remember (oldest are dropped first).
$wpide_removed_limit = 500;
add_action( 'wp_trash_post', function ( $post_id ) use ( $wpide_removed_types, $wpide_removed_limit ) {
$post = get_post( $post_id );
if ( ! $post || 'publish' !== $post->post_status || ! in_array( $post->post_type, $wpide_removed_types, true ) ) {
return;
}
$target = '';
if ( 'post' === $post->post_type ) {
$cats = wp_get_post_categories( $post->ID );
$target = $cats ? get_category_link( (int) $cats[0] ) : '';
} elseif ( $post->post_parent && 'publish' === get_post_status( $post->post_parent ) ) {
$target = get_permalink( $post->post_parent );
}
if ( ! $target ) {
$blog = (int) get_option( 'page_for_posts' );
$target = $blog ? get_permalink( $blog ) : home_url( '/' );
}
$path = untrailingslashit( (string) wp_parse_url( get_permalink( $post ), PHP_URL_PATH ) );
$map = (array) get_option( 'wpide_removed_post_redirects', array() );
unset( $map[ $path ] );
$map[ $path ] = array( 'to' => $target, 'id' => $post->ID );
update_option( 'wpide_removed_post_redirects', array_slice( $map, -absint( $wpide_removed_limit ), null, true ), false );
} );
// Restoring a post from the trash removes its redirect.
add_action( 'untrashed_post', function ( $post_id ) {
$map = (array) get_option( 'wpide_removed_post_redirects', array() );
foreach ( $map as $path => $item ) {
if ( isset( $item['id'] ) && (int) $item['id'] === (int) $post_id ) {
unset( $map[ $path ] );
}
}
update_option( 'wpide_removed_post_redirects', $map, false );
} );
add_action( 'template_redirect', function () {
if ( ! is_404() ) {
return;
}
$map = get_option( 'wpide_removed_post_redirects', array() );
$path = isset( $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ) ? untrailingslashit( (string) wp_parse_url( wp_unslash( $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ), PHP_URL_PATH ) ) : '';
if ( ! is_array( $map ) || '' === $path || empty( $map[ $path ]['to'] ) ) {
return;
}
wp_safe_redirect( $map[ $path ]['to'], 301 );
exit;
} );
Notes
Restoring a post removes its redirect; up to 500 addresses are remembered.
How to add this snippet
- Install WPIDE on your WordPress site (it is free) and open Code Snippets.
- Use snippet above adds it from the library in one click. Or copy the code into a new snippet with the same code type.
- It is added inactive: review the code and settings, then switch it on.