How can I use the block editor for a 404 page in WordPress without redirecting from /404-CodePudding

I have a WordPress website and a custom theme, and of course a 404.php file. I have followed this amazing guide on making the 404 page template editable with the block editor.

My components on the 404 page appear correctly when I go to /404 (or for that matter, any invalid link), however, when going to /404, the user is redirected to /404-2 This is the behavior I would like to fix. When the user goes to /abc (an invalid page) then the 404 is shown and they ae not redirected and still on /abc (which is as intended).

I checked the page in WP and the URL slug is set to /404-2 and attempting to change it to 404 just defaults back to 404. It seems that this is due to 404 being a number and default WP behavior. But this just tells me why the problem occurs; I do not know how to override or correct this behavior. Thanks in advance.

CodePudding user response：

As you've found, the page title "404" (or any numeric title) will always be rewritten to "404-2", this ensures the title is distinct/never confused with a numeric post/page id.

A simple solution would be to rename the page to "404 page" and update the php function to get_page_by_title( '404 page' ). This would give your page more SEO friendly url of /404-page and not require trying to change permalinks/rewriting of the .htaccess file.

An alternative to consider is migrating your custom theme to a block theme if using WordPress 5.9 or higher. This would enable you to create a true "404" page template using the Block Editor that can be edited via the Site Editor > Templates. The Site Editor enables you to add new templates, save and export them for easily creating your own templates for your custom theme. Starting with a base theme like Twenty Twenty Two is a good way to see what is possible. It's very different to creating a "classic" php-based theme; though the advantage of block templates and the Site Editor is a great benefit for future-proofing your theme.

CodePudding user response：

Fixed it by hooking onto do_redirect_guess_404_permalink

See https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/hooks/do_redirect_guess_404_permalink/

<?php

function stop_redirect_guess() {
    return false;
}

add_filter( 'do_redirect_guess_404_permalink', 'stop_redirect_guess');

?>