The point to use a slug (semantic URL) besides of improve the SEO of your articles is to prevent that the user, at the creation of for example an article, it uses special characters that aren't allowed in a URL, appropiate the usage etc. What target usage means, is context dependent.
In this article, you'll learn how to slugify a string in PHP properly, including (or not) support (conversion) for cyrilic and special latin characters.
Slugify in PHP
The following function exposes a simple way to convert text into a valid slug:
<?php
/**
* Return the slug of a string to be used in a URL.
*
* @return String
*/
function slugify($text){
// replace non letter or digits by -
$text = preg_replace('~[^\pL\d]+~u', '-', $text);
// transliterate
$text = iconv('utf-8', 'us-ascii//TRANSLIT', $text);
// remove unwanted characters
$text = preg_replace('~[^-\w]+~', '', $text);
// trim
$text = trim($text, '-');
// remove duplicated - symbols
$text = preg_replace('~-+~', '-', $text);
// lowercase
$text = strtolower($text);
if (empty($text)) {
return 'n-a';
}
return $text;
}
$url = slugify('Hello world, this is the name of my article');
// hello-world-this-is-the-name-of-my-articleNote that any special character will be replaced with the - symbol, if you want to convert them to an equivalent character (Ü to U), keep reading.
Support for UTF-8 characters
If you are not facing this problem, you may be probably asking to yourself why the previous function wouldn't work with all the strings? the answer is pretty simple, those unrecognized characters (most of them cyrilics) that aren't supported on a URL will be replaced by a - symbol.
To understand this behaviour, i'll expose you the following example:
echo slugify('Cómo hablar en sílabas');
// Outputs : cmo-hablar-en-slabas
// It would be better for SEO if the URL is instead:
// como-hablar-en-silabasWhat would be better than a slugify function that converts those unrecognized characters into it's normal encoding character to create a "normal" URL ? that's the point of the following function.
The following snippet written by Sean Murphy, will provide support for characters from Latin, Greek, Ukrainian, Polish etc into it's "equivalent" in normal characters. This snippet was published in the original Gist that you can see in Github here.
Note: in case you don't want to use such a big function for that, you can check out the one line solution providen at the end of the article which supports UTF-8 too (at less the most known characters).
Feel free to remove of the $char_map array those characters that probably in your country no one will use and make the code shorter.
<?php
/**
* Create a web friendly URL slug from a string.
*
* Although supported, transliteration is discouraged because
* 1) most web browsers support UTF-8 characters in URLs
* 2) transliteration causes a loss of information
*
* @author Sean Murphy <[email protected]>
* @copyright Copyright 2012 Sean Murphy. All rights reserved.
* @license http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
*
* @param string $str
* @param array $options
* @return string
*/
function url_slug($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') : $str;
}
?>Then you can use it with special characters i.e:
// Example using French with unwanted characters ('?)
echo "Qu'en est-il français? Ça marche alors?" . "\n";
echo url_slug("Qu'en est-il français? Ça marche alors?") . "\n\n";
// Example using transliteration
echo "ЧÑо делаÑÑ, еÑли Ñ Ð½Ðµ Ñ
оÑÑ, UTF-8?" . "\n";
echo url_slug("ЧÑо делаÑÑ, еÑли Ñ Ð½Ðµ Ñ
оÑÑ, UTF-8?", array('transliterate' => true)) . "\n\n";
// Example using transliteration on an unsupported language
echo "×× ×× ×× × ×× ×¨××¦× UTF-8 ת××××?" . "\n";
echo url_slug("×× ×× ×× × ×× ×¨××¦× UTF-8 ת××××?", array('transliterate' => true)) . "\n\n";
// Some other options
echo "This is an Example String. What's Going to Happen to Me?" . "\n";
echo url_slug(
"This is an Example String. What's Going to Happen to Me?",
array(
'delimiter' => '_',
'limit' => 40,
'lowercase' => false,
'replacements' => array(
'/\b(an)\b/i' => 'a',
'/\b(example)\b/i' => 'Test'
)
)
);
/*
Output:
This is an example string. Nothing fancy.
this-is-an-example-string-nothing-fancy
Qu'en est-il français? Ça marche alors?
qu-en-est-il-français-ça-marche-alors
ЧÑо делаÑÑ, еÑли Ñ Ð½Ðµ Ñ
оÑÑ, UTF-8?
chto-delat-esli-ya-ne-hochu-utf-8
×× ×× ×× × ×× ×¨××¦× UTF-8 ת××××?
××-××-×× ×-××-ר×צ×-utf-8-ת××××
This is an Example String. What's Going to Happen to Me?
This_is_a_Test_String_What_s_Going_to_Ha
*/Shorter slugify function
If you are one of those "artisan" developers (and even that supports UTF-8 characters, at less an important piece of them), you need probably a one line working solution. For your luck, there's a useful one line function that will handle the slugify process easily with not so many complications:
<?php
function Slug($string){
return strtolower(trim(preg_replace('~[^0-9a-z]+~i', '-', html_entity_decode(preg_replace('~&([a-z]{1,2})(?:acute|cedil|circ|grave|lig|orn|ring|slash|th|tilde|uml);~i', '$1', htmlentities($string, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8')), ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8')), '-'));
}
$user = 'Cómo hablar en sílabas';
echo Slug($user); // como-hablar-en-silabas
$user = 'Álix Ãxel';
echo Slug($user); // alix-axel
$user = 'Álix----_Ãxel!?!?';
echo Slug($user); // alix-axelAs you can see it supports the conversion (Á to A, ü to u etc) of complex characters that will be included in a URL and you don't need to include a large function for it.
Have fun !
