Random permalink key in wordpress

Question

I want to have a custom permalink for each new post in WordPress like: http://mysite.com/x5Kvy6 (like bit.ly).

I tried this little script, but it adds only 5-digit numbers to the post title in the permalink.

function wp_unique_post_slug( $slug, $post_ID, $post_status, $post_type, $post_parent ) {

if($slug!=""){
  $random=rand(11111,99999); //I needed 5 digit random
  $slug .= "-" . $random;
}
return $slug;

}

How can I make a random key instead of the post title?

I have not researched URL shorteners or redirection methods.

Any idea is welcome!

Answer 1

function wp_unique_post_slug($col,$table='wp_posts'){
     global $wpdb;

     $alphabet = array_merge( range(0, 9), range('a','z') );

     $already_exists = true;
     do {

         $guidchr = array();
         for ($i=0; $i<32; $i++)
         $guidchr[] = $alphabet[array_rand( $alphabet )];


         $guid = sprintf( "%s", implode("", array_slice($guidchr, 0, 12, true)) );

       // check that GUID is unique
       $already_exists = (boolean) $wpdb->get_var("
       SELECT COUNT($col) as the_amount FROM $table WHERE $col = '$guid'
       ");

      } while (true == $already_exists);

     return $guid;
}

This can be optimised in a number of ways.

Also regarding this wp_unique_post_slug() -- yikes watch out for the name spacing. Wordpress already uses this function name

Answer 2

if($slug!=""){
   $random=rand(11111,99999); //I needed 5 digit random
   $slug = $random;
}

.= is for concat of strings.

Answer 3

The correct way to use Mwayi answer is using the filter wp_unique_post_slug, as function wp_unique_post_slug() will conflit with WP own function. Inside WP function we find this filter hook.

add_filter( 'wp_unique_post_slug', 'unique_slug_so_11762070', 10, 6 );

function unique_slug_so_11762070( $slug, $post_ID, $post_status, $post_type, $post_parent, $original_slug ) {
    $new_slug = so_11762070_unique_post_slug('guid');
    return $new_slug;
}

# From: https://stackoverflow.com/a/11762698
function so_11762070_unique_post_slug($col,$table='wp_posts'){
     global $wpdb;

     $alphabet = array_merge( range(0, 9), range('a','z') );

     $already_exists = true;
     do {

         $guidchr = array();
         for ($i=0; $i<32; $i++)
         $guidchr[] = $alphabet[array_rand( $alphabet )];


         $guid = sprintf( "%s", implode("", array_slice($guidchr, 0, 12, true)) );

       // check that GUID is unique
       $already_exists = (boolean) $wpdb->get_var("
       SELECT COUNT($col) as the_amount FROM $table WHERE $col = '$guid'
       ");

      } while (true == $already_exists);

     return $guid;
}

Answer 4

For SEO, you better keep the slug as meaningful as possible, ie. do not change the permalink to a random sequence. Using This plugin, you still can use http://example.com/raNd0m permalink for sharing purposes in social networks or images from your site.

This way you win both SEO and shortlinks

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I used http://ijassar.info/underrated to write a post about this specific subject