Title: Permalink Settings Demystified
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# Permalink Settings Demystified

 *  Resolved [deko440](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deko440/)
 * (@deko440)
 * [14 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-settings-demystified/)
 * In the wp-admin pages > Settings > Permalinks users can create custom URL structures
   for permalinks and archives.
 * This sounds great, but I’d rather accomplish this by manually editing my htaccess
   file (since it’s already quite complex) instead of changing any Permalink settings
   in WordPress–which appear to simply modify my existing htaccess file.
 * Are there any changes made internally to WordPress when the Permalink settings
   are changed from the Default? If so, what changes are made?
 * Is it possible to keep the Default Permalink settings and configure a custom 
   URL structure using htaccess only?

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  Moderator [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/)
 * (@ipstenu)
 * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist
 * [14 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-settings-demystified/#post-2187538)
 * > I’d rather accomplish this by manually editing my htaccess file (since it’s
   > already quite complex) instead of changing any Permalink settings in WordPress–
   > which appear to simply modify my existing htaccess file.
 * No, that’s nto how it works.
 * You change your permalink settings which puts the information in the database.
 * The .htaccess change just adds a bit to tell WP ‘When data comes in, parse it.’
   It’s the same .htaccess for everyone, no matter their permalinks. And if your.
   htaccess, like mine, is huge and complicated, put it at the very bottom of the
   file.
 *  [deko](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deko/)
 * (@deko)
 * [14 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-settings-demystified/#post-2187550)
 * I see. I’m curious what changes are made in the database.
 * But those changes, in addition to adding to my htaccess file, is pushing the 
   complexity price a little too high… even though I do think URL structure is an
   important part of the interface for any website.
 *  Moderator [Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ipstenu/)
 * (@ipstenu)
 * 🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist
 * [14 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-settings-demystified/#post-2187652)
 * > But those changes, in addition to adding to my htaccess file, is pushing the
   > complexity price a little too high.
 * You’ve lost me here. I have a hellishly complicated .htaccess, which acts as 
   both firewall and cache optomizer. Adding in the 10 lines for WordPress, down
   at the bottom, does very little to make my site ‘complex.’
 * The permalink info is stored in the DB. The translation is done on the fly, so
   WP parses 2011/07/14/postname into post ID #1 and so on. The complexity is on
   the side of the files and the DB. .htaccess is pretty lightweight.
 *  [deko](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deko/)
 * (@deko)
 * [14 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-settings-demystified/#post-2187681)
 * I guess I should take that as encouragement to give it a shot. thx for the reply.
 *  [deko](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deko/)
 * (@deko)
 * [14 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-settings-demystified/#post-2187863)
 * got it working. can’t use $_GET in my scripts anymore. and if I switch back at
   a later date, bookmarks break.
 * staying ugly for now…

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘Permalink Settings Demystified’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [htaccess](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/htaccess/)
 * [permalinks](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/permalinks/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 5 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [deko](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deko/)
 * Last activity: [14 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/permalink-settings-demystified/#post-2187863)
 * Status: resolved

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