Template Routes

By default Templates are accessed by their name and Template Group using this URL structure:

https://example.com/template_group/template

Template routes allow you to override this default behavior by allowing you to assign URL segments to variables and apply rules to them.

Usage

You can set the route for a template using the Access section of the Template Manager. To see an overview of your site’s routes use the Template Routes.

The Template Routes lists your Template Routes in the order they are processed when matching a URL. You can drag and drop your Template Routes in the Route Manager to set a custom parse order.

Setting a custom parse order can be useful in situations where you have potentially ambiguous routes. For example, suppose you want to construct a URL pattern for an event calendar where you want to be able to show events by an event type or for a particular date. In this example we want to have the following URLs:

/events/bank-holidays

/events/04-30-2014

Each URL should point to its own template, one for showing a listing of events by date, and one for showing a listing by event type. We could use the following routes to match:

/events/{type:alpha_dash}

/events/{date:regex[(\d{2}-\d{2}-\d{4})]}

An issue arises if ExpressionEngine parses your routes in the above order when trying to match a URL. If we try to visit a URL with a date, like in our second URL, ExpressionEngine will try matching against the route with the alpha_dash rule first. Since our date rule is a subset of alpha_dash, the alpha_dash rule will always match our date URLs before ExpressionEngine can route them to the correct template. By simply changing the parse order in the Template Route Manager so that the date route is first, ExpressionEngine will match the date URLs to the right template.

Important: Template Routes overrides the default behavior of URLs, if you wish to use a Channel Entries Tag in your template you must manually provide segments for any parameters that are normally set in the URL. You must provide a segment for pagination, categories, and entry titles if you wish to use those in your Channel Entries Tag. Additionally, be careful when using dynamic="yes" with Template Routes, this can cause issues if your route does not have an appropriate segment set.

Template Route

This route determines the URLs that will match your template. The format is as follows:

/segment/{variable}/{variable:rule}/{variable:rule0|rule1[arg]}

Once you set a Template Route you can access the template by the URL you set. You can still access the template from the default group/template URL, but the template route variables such as {segment:variable} will not be available in your template.

This is a URL segment with no rules, you can use any alpha-numeric string for variable:

{variable}

A segment can have multiple rules applied to it. Rules allow you to limit the URLs that will match your template route. The format for using rules looks like this:

{variable:rule0|rule1|rule2[arg0, arg1, ...]|...}

Rules are separated by a | and if a rule has arguments they are set in brackets and separated by commas if there are more than one.

Here is an example of a full Template Route:

/name/{first_name:alpha}/{last_name:alpha}/{suffix:regex[(i|v|x)+]}

This will match URLs such as:

/member/Enrico/Fermi/III

A Template Route will not match a URL that has more segments than specified in the Template Route. So the full Template Route above will not match:

/member/Enrico/Fermi/III/P2

Template Routes has built in rules for handling pagination and categories:

/blog/{section:category}/{page:pagination}

For this set up to work, “Require All Segments” must be set to no. With the above route and segments set to optional the following URLs will match:

/blog

/blog/C10

/blog/P20

/blog/C10/P20

Sometimes you may wish to use category titles instead of category IDs, you can use a Template Route to accomplish this:

/blog/category/{section:alpha_dash}/{page:pagination}

Rules

alpha_dash

Matches alphabetic characters, 0 through 9, underscore, and dash.

alpha_numeric

Matches alphabetic character and 0 through 9.

alpha

Matches only alphabetic characters.

base64

Matches base64 encoding; Alphabetic characters, 0 through 9, “/“, “+”, and “=”.

Note: Base64 allows slashes, so if you use this rule make sure you only use it on the trailing URL segment, otherwise it can cause issues with matching URLs.

category

Matches EE style category segments (e.g. C10).

integer

Matches positive and negative integers.

max_length[n]

Matches a maximum of n characters.

min_length[n]

Matches a minimum of n characters.

natural

Matches only natural numbers [0, +inf)

numeric

Matches all number types.

pagination

Matches an EE style pagination segment (e.g. P20).

regex[(regular_expression)]

Matches an arbitrary regular expression. Your regular expression must be inside a named capturing group, for example:

regex[([0-9]{3})]

Note: Regular expression matches are performed case insensitively

Require all Variables

If set to “yes” all segments defined in your Template Route must be contained in a URL in order for it to match. For example in this Template Route:

/name/{first_name}/{last_name}/{suffix}/{page:pagination}

If “Require all Variables” is set to “No” (the default) then only static segments are required. Any or all of the non-static segments may be omitted. Thus all of the following URLs will match:

/name/Enrico/Fermi/III

/name/Enrico/Fermi

/name/Enrico

/name/III

/name/P5

/name

If all segments are required only the first URL will match.

Neither setting would allow this route to match:

/not_name

Note: If you use a static variable in your route, all segments will be required regardless of this setting. To allow missing variables, use regex matching in place of static variables. So /add/{url_title:alpha_dash} should be /{seg1:regex[(add)]}/{url_title:alpha_dash}.

Segment variables and Paths

The segment variables define in your Template Routes can be used in your template using the following pattern:

{segment:name}

Paths for templates that have assigned Template routes can be generated in your templates as follows. Supposing your Template Route is defined as:

/name/{first_name}/{last_name}/{suffix}

Then in your templates you can generate a path to that template using:

{route="template_group/template" first_name="Enrico" last_name="Fermi"}

The route variable requires the template group and template name. You can optionally provide values for your defined route segments, you must use the same variable defined in your route.

Template Route Manager

This provides an overview of your site’s URL structure, for more info see the control panel documentation.

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