Title: Adding rewrite rules
Last modified: September 1, 2016

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# Adding rewrite rules

 *  Resolved [damiarita](https://wordpress.org/support/users/damiarita/)
 * (@damiarita)
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adding-rewrite-rules-1/)
 * In this website uniquecorners.com I have created a custom post type called ‘tour’
   with a taxonomy ‘destination’. I wanted the URL to be domain/destination-slug/
   tour-slug (for a tour page) or domain/destination-slug (for a destination page).
   So I wanted to avoid putting ‘tour’ in the URL.
 * To accomplish this, I ignored the rewrite parameters when I register the post
   type, as I didn’t find a way to do this. In stead, I create the extra rewrite
   rules myself.
 * I see two ways of doing it and I am not sure which is better.
 * This is the way I do it now (based on [https://wordpress.org/plugins/hierarchical-urls/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/hierarchical-urls/)):
   
   I use the filter rewrite_rules_array. I basically prepend all my rules to it.
 * This is the alternative I am considering:
    Using some action and calling add_rewrite_rule
 * What pushes me towards this alternative is that it looks more “official”. I like
   using the API.
 * What pushes me away from it is that using an action makes it execute the code
   every time. In the filter I am not sure it is executed every time. It might only
   be executed when rules are flushed (this is a complet guess).
 * So, my questions are:
    1. Is it true that this filter is only used when rules are flushed?
    2. What action would you use if I used the API?
    3. Is there an action I can use that doesn’t fire when a cached page is served (
       I use w3total cache)?
 * Thanks!!

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Moderator [keesiemeijer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/keesiemeijer/)
 * (@keesiemeijer)
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adding-rewrite-rules-1/#post-7490857)
 * There are multiple ways you can add the rewrite rules. All are part of the API.
   It doesn’t matter if you use `add_rewrite_rule` in the `init` action or use the`
   rewrite_rules_array` filter as you’re doing now. Both are intended to add or 
   filter rewrite rules. Personally I think add_rewrite_rule is better as it’s the
   intended way to add the rules and does some extra things in the background.
 * Both are run on every pageload so WordPress can use it to update the rewrite 
   rules with your rules whenever it’s needed (flushed + saved to the database).
 * It doesn’t matter if it’s executed on every pageload though. WordPress needs 
   the rules when they are flushed and regenerated. The only thing you should avoid
   is flushing the rules on every pageload.
 *  Thread Starter [damiarita](https://wordpress.org/support/users/damiarita/)
 * (@damiarita)
 * [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adding-rewrite-rules-1/#post-7490974)
 * Thank you keesiemeijer!

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Adding rewrite rules’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [cache](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/cache/)
 * [rules](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/rules/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [damiarita](https://wordpress.org/support/users/damiarita/)
 * Last activity: [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adding-rewrite-rules-1/#post-7490974)
 * Status: resolved

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