[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #45333: term_exists might fail if slugs are changed

[WordPress Trac]

#45333: term_exists might fail if slugs are changed
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 Reporter:  leogermani    |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal        |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Taxonomy      |    Version:  trunk
 Severity:  normal        |   Keywords:
  Focuses:                |
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 The steps to reproduce this are:

 1. Create a term. For example: 'test 123'
 2. Change its slug to something completely different. For example, from
 'test-123' to 'something-else'
 3. Now call the function `term_exists()` passing `'test  123'` (with 2
 empty spaces between test and 123)
  as the term name, along with the taxonomy.

 You will notice that `term_exists()` will not find it.

 However, if you try to add this same term, with the two spaces,
 `wp_insert_term()` won't allow it because it will detect it as a
 duplicate.

 This issue I believe touches some bigger discussion around `term_exists()`
 because this function handles the term name string in a different way that
 `wp_insert_term()` does, which, in my opinion, creates an inconsistency.

 I've seem some discussions around this on
 [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/43345] and
 [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/32248].

 In [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/32248#comment:9 this comment],
 @boonebgorges argues that "`term_exists()` is a low-level function.
 Character encoding should be handled by the function that calls
 `term_exists()`", but aknowledges the inconsistencies and says " In short:
 it's a mess, and I don't recommend using it - use `get_term_by()`
 instead."

 In fact `get_term_by()` finds it.

 So I guess the question is, shoud we touch term_exists() and make it find
 the same duplicates wp_insert_term() does?

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/45333>
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