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I have a lot of clients who like to write "&" in their titles but the slug auto generation removes the "& " which can give the url a totally different meaning and so we must hand check them.

Is an override or patch or something possible to change this so that & becomes "and" ?

Title: House & Boat
e.g. http://www.domain.com/sections/house-boat
vs http://www.domain.com/sections/house-and-boat

Thanks

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

There is no easy way to override that. In the end it uses JFilterOutput::stringURLUnicodeSlug() or JFilterOutput::stringURLSafe() (depending on the global setting) to make the alias URL safe. Since & isn't a valid character in an URL it is stripped and replaced with a -.

So you had to override a core class, which isn't recommended at all.

The easier way is probably to create a plugin which runs during or after the save process and generates a new alias. I don't know if there is an existing one, but I think it should be possible to create such a plugin.

Or you can teach your users to make sure the alias is fine :-)

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  • I believe you meant "save process" not "safe process"
    – tristanbailey
    Apr 29, 2014 at 15:58
  • Ok Just needed the pointer to if it was possible without a core hack as could just add one line to the stringURLSafe function where it replaces spaces.
    – tristanbailey
    Apr 29, 2014 at 15:59
  • 1
    Indeed save, not safe :)
    – Bakual
    Apr 29, 2014 at 19:10
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Rather than teach users to monitor the alias, teach users/admins to write the titles without the ampersand to begin with. Tell them it will "break the site" if necessary, wink wink.

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2
  • I have done that tactic before for file names, and other things but wanted to see a technical solution as could be possible.
    – tristanbailey
    Apr 30, 2014 at 14:43
  • I tell them no spaces and caps in images dir and names and they still do it ! Have to have a virtual slap on the wrist button or a "No, No, NO..." Jurassic Park Gif ;)
    – tristanbailey
    Sep 15, 2014 at 13:00

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