function "get cat ID" fails if category name has an apostrophe

[iamronen]

the function get_cat_ID() fails if the category name has an apostrophe in it (maybe other characters as well??).

I could not reproduce this with either of the following:

echo get_cat_ID( 'Test \'an apostrophe!' ); // echoed the correct category ID

echo get_cat_ID( "Test 'an apostrophe!" ); // echoed the correct category ID

Appears to work as expected for me too.

Closing as worksforme. Re-open with specific steps to duplicate if you can re-create it.

get_cat_ID doesn't handle fancy quotes and apostrophe's, eg. “ ‘ ” ’

On a mac, hold option and press [ and ], then hold shift and press the same buttons. I can confirm this is the reason it's not working. I don't know if other special characters are being handled.

More details:
I tried to change the category name to use a tick mark, ' , instead, but the saved value was always considered a smart fancy quote ’. Seems like the problem stems from the category, not get_cat_id(). Both should be modified to handle fancy quotes.

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I just realized that single_cat_title() should only be used for displaying the current category on a page. That's probably where the fancy quotes come from. I've seen this function being used to retrieve the name of the category page, which is then used to retrieve the category id. The better process is to do the following:

 global $wp_query;
if(is_category() || is_single()){
  $cid = get_query_var('cat');
}

Or you could get the category slug from the url and work that way. Neither seems ideal unless I'm missing something.

Works in my case too

Replying to MikeNGarrett:

get_cat_ID doesn't handle fancy quotes and apostrophe's, eg. “ ‘ ” ’

On a mac, hold option and press [ and ], then hold shift and press the same buttons. I can confirm this is the reason it's not working. I don't know if other special characters are being handled.

Can you provide the unicode specification of the "fancy" characters you're referring to? Reproducing your case with so little information is hard to do.

For example, I don't have an apple computer at hand so I can not even reproduce what you write.

If you can provide a formal specification of the characters you're referring to, feel free to reopen the ticket.

Replying to logiclord:

Works in my case too

Can you provide a formal specification about which characters MikeNGarrett was speaking about?

Replying to hakre:

Replying to logiclord:

Works in my case too

Can you provide a formal specification about which characters MikeNGarrett was speaking about?

Suppose you have a category like foo'bar
then
get_cat_ID( "foo'bar" )
and
get_cat_ID( "foo\'bar" )

both seems to give correct category id

I think i understood what is your issue
when you create a category say Test'Cat it is shown as Test’Cat but actually its Test'Cat
and when you use get_cat_ID( "Test’Cat" ) it doesn't give a matching ID so do not go by ’ use ' that you typed while creating that category.

comment:8 sounds like a valid explanation. You can see the original (unformatted) category name on Edit Category screen.