[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #47878: Permalink issue when using sub categories. Why does it entirely rely on ID?

[WordPress Trac]

#47878: Permalink issue when using sub categories. Why does it entirely rely on ID?
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 Reporter:  freshyjon    |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Permalinks   |    Version:
 Severity:  normal       |   Keywords:
  Focuses:               |
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 There seems to be come confusion and inconsistency with the way permalink
 structure work with categories (specifically sub categories). Hear me out.

 Hopefully you're able to follow:

 Assuming you have a permalink structure of `/%category%/%postname%/`, then
 posts can indeed have a slug of `/category-parent/category-child/post-
 name/`. This is the expected outcome.

 **HOWEVER**, the issue here is that if a post is assigned the full "tree"
 of categories (parent > child > sub-child), then it will only have the
 parent category slug in the permalink (assuming the Parent category was
 created first, and therefore has a lower ID # ... which is often the
 case).

 Somewhat strangely though, if you assign ONLY the Sub Child category —
 which likely has a higher ID than Parent and Child, then the permalink
 will have the entire tree in the permalink. This is because, even though
 only Sub-Child was chosen, it cannot have only a sub-category within the
 permalink... since the sub-categories rely on the parent. But anyway...

 Here are some examples, and why it's an issue to rely heavily on the
 Category ID for permalink. I think this needs to be resolved somehow...

 Example, where Children categories were created before parents (and
 therefore children had lower ID):

 **Test Parent (ID: 163) > Test Child (ID: 162) > Test Sub Child (ID:
 161)**

 No matter what category I assign (whether only one of them, or the entire
 tree), the permalink returned is **idea**l (it includes the full path, up
 to the chosen category)
 * E.g., if I chose ONLY “Test Child”, the permalink is `/test-parent/test-
 child/post-name/`
 * E.g., if I chose ONLY “Test Sub Child”, the permalink is `/test-parent
 /test-child/test-sub-child/post-name/`
 * E.g., if I chose “Test Parent” and “Test Sub Child” (and didn’t choose
 “Test Child”), the permalink is still the full path of `/test-parent/test-
 child/test-sub-child/post-name/`
 * E.g, if I chose ALL 3 (entire tree), the permalink is still `/test-
 parent/test-child/test-sub-child/post-name/`
 * All of these are ''ideal'', as I have `/%category%/%postname%/` as the
 permalink structure. Therefore if/when there are sub-categories, it should
 add them to the permalink structure as a new directory. Yes please.

 ''However, this isn’t always the case.''

 I also have another category structure of:

 **Example Parent (ID: 120) > Example Child (ID: 142) > Example Sub Child
 (ID: 160)**

 * In THIS case, the only difference is that the IDs become higher for the
 children.
 * In the other example, the sub-child was made first, then the child, then
 the parent. Therefore, because the sub-child has the lower ID #, the Post
 would always try to use that slug if it is assigned to it. Then, because
 it does use that slug… it also relies on using the child and parent too.
 That is ideal, where a post with a parent/child category has the full
 structure in the permalink.
 * But, based on the Example directly above, why on earth should the slug
 ID # determine how the permalink structure is? If I have a parent/child
 category selection in my Post, then it should ALWAYS use the full
 structure in the permalink. Yet, if the Parent’s ID is LOWER than the
 Child’s ID, it will only ever use the parent slug in the permalink.

 While I realize this probably isn't considered a bug; at the very least,
 it should be considered unexpected behavior. Perhaps, there should be an
 option somewhere to choose whether the admin wants to have the full
 permalink structure when using sub-categories… or if they only want the
 parent category (or maybe only the child category). But the fact that it’s
 ''entirely dependent'' on the ID is a bit silly, as it now requires the
 IDs to be in a certain [backwards] sequential order (in order for the full
 path to show up).

 This makes it near impossible to have a full permalink structure of
 `/parent/child/sub-child/` without going through all existing categories
 and ensuring the Parent/Child category relationship has lower IDs the
 further into the tree you go.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/47878>
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