cyr3lat - wpm

Description

Cyr to Lat Enhanced converts Cyrillic, European and Georgian characters in post slugs, term slugs and media file names into Latin characters. It helps ensure clean, readable and consistent URLs on WordPress sites that use non-Latin scripts.

The plugin integrates directly with WordPress sanitization and performs transliteration at the moment slugs and filenames are generated. It does not modify post content, titles or any front-end text. Its scope is strictly limited to slugs and media file names.

On activation, existing post and term slugs are converted in the background using safe, batch-based processing. WordPress core APIs are used to preserve permalink integrity and existing redirects.

Transliteration is based on an ISO 9-style mapping table with support for Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Georgian characters. Locale-specific adjustments are applied automatically, and the transliteration table can be customized via a public filter.

Cyr to Lat Enhanced is intentionally lightweight and focused. It provides no admin interface, no settings pages and no bidirectional conversion. The plugin does not collect data, track users or perform any actions outside its defined purpose.

The plugin continues the cyr2lat / cyr3lat lineage, including compatibility with the original cyr2lat plugin by Sergey Biryukov.

Advanced Transliteration

For more advanced transliteration needs, including extended language support, bidirectional conversion, content-level processing and additional controls, consider the Transliterator plugin.

Transliterator is designed for complex multilingual setups and offers significantly broader functionality beyond slug and filename transliteration.

Adoption Notice

This plugin represents the continued development of the original "Cyr to Lat enhanced" created by Sergey Biryukov (@SergeyBiryukov).

The project has been revived with the intention of ensuring long-term stability, modern compatibility, and responsible maintenance while preserving the core functionality that made the original plugin widely used.

Installation

Upload the cyr3lat folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
Activate the plugin through the "Plugins" menu in WordPress.
If your environment has iconv enabled, the plugin will use it as a best-effort fallback. If you experience trimmed slugs, unexpected characters, or question marks, please open a support topic and include your server OS, PHP version, and locale.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I modify media file names after transliteration?

Yes. You can adjust media file names after transliteration and normalization
by using the ctl_enhanced_sanitized_file_name filter.

Add this code to your theme's functions.php file:

function my_ctl_modify_filename( $filename, $source ) { // Example: prepend a prefix to all media file names. return 'media-' . $filename; } add_filter( 'ctl_enhanced_sanitized_file_name', 'my_ctl_modify_filename', 10, 2 );

Can I modify the generated slugs after transliteration?

Yes. You can adjust the final slug value after transliteration and normalization
by using the ctl_enhanced_sanitized_title filter.

Add this code to your theme's functions.php file:

function my_ctl_modify_slug( $slug, $source, $context ) { // Example: append a suffix to all generated slugs. return $slug . '-custom'; } add_filter( 'ctl_enhanced_sanitized_title', 'my_ctl_modify_slug', 10, 3 );

How can I adjust the background batch size?

By default, the plugin processes slugs in batches to avoid timeouts.
On slower or low-memory servers, you may want to reduce the batch size.

Add this code to your theme's functions.php file:

function my_ctl_batch_size( $size, $context ) { // Apply the same batch size for posts and terms. return 100; } add_filter( 'ctl_enhanced_batch_size', 'my_ctl_batch_size', 10, 2 );

How can I define my own substitutions?

You can modify or extend the transliteration table by using the ctl_table filter.

Add this code to your theme's functions.php file:

function my_cyr_to_lat_table( $ctl_table ) { $ctl_table['Ъ'] = 'U'; $ctl_table['ъ'] = 'u'; return $ctl_table; } add_filter( 'ctl_table', 'my_cyr_to_lat_table' );

What is the difference between Cyr to Lat Enhanced, cyr2lat and Transliterator?

Cyr to Lat Enhanced is a continuation of the original cyr2lat / cyr3lat lineage.
Its purpose is strictly limited to transliteration of post slugs, term slugs and media file names.

The original cyr2lat plugin by Sergey Biryukov introduced a simple and effective way to generate Latin slugs from Cyrillic titles.
Cyr to Lat Enhanced preserves this philosophy while modernizing the codebase, improving reliability and ensuring compatibility with current WordPress versions.

Transliterator is a separate plugin with a different scope and goals.
It is designed for advanced and complex use cases, including:

transliteration of post content and front-end text
bidirectional conversion (Latin and Cyrillic)
extended language rules and exclusions
fine-grained control over when and where transliteration is applied

Because these plugins solve different problems, they are intentionally separated.
Cyr to Lat Enhanced focuses on clean URLs and file names with zero configuration.
Transliterator focuses on full-language processing and advanced multilingual setups.

Users should choose the plugin that best matches their needs:

use Cyr to Lat Enhanced for simple, automatic slug and filename transliteration
use Transliterator when full content-level transliteration is required

Changelog

3.7.3

Minor improvements to plugin metadata presentation in the WordPress admin.
Improved robustness and consistency of internal admin-only logic.
No changes to front-end behavior or existing URLs.

3.7.2

Added filter support for adjusting background batch size during slug conversion.
Improved safety and flexibility of background processing for large sites.
Refined cron cleanup on plugin deactivation.
Minor internal code cleanup and consistency improvements.
No changes to front-end behavior or existing URLs.

3.7.1

Adopted plugin maintenance and modernized codebase for current WordPress standards
Reworked sanitize_title and sanitize_file_name hooks to use proper arguments
Removed debug_backtrace usage to improve performance and reliability
Replaced direct database updates with WordPress APIs (wp_update_post, wp_update_term)
Added background batch processing for existing slugs via WP-Cron
Improved transliteration handling with locale-aware caching
General code cleanup and stability improvements

3.7

Added prepare() for every SQL query

3.6

Added esc_sql for SQL query

3.5

Removed quotes from table which added extra dashes

3.4

Fixes for Ukrainian characters

3.3.3

Bugfix: posts of status "future" were not affected

3.3.2

Added support for European diacritics

3.3.1

Added Georgian transliteration table
A problem with some letters causing apostrophes in slugs was resolved

3.3

Internal improvements

3.2

Added transliteration when publishing via XML-RPC
Fixed Invalid Taxonomy error when viewing the most used tags

3.1

Fixed transliteration when saving a draft

3.0

Added automatic conversion of existing post, page and term slugs
Added saving of existing post and page permalinks integrity
Added transliteration of attachment file names
Adjusted transliteration table in accordance with ISO 9 standard
Included Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Macedonian characters
Added filter for the transliteration table

2.1

Optimized filter call

2.0

Added check for existing terms

1.0.1

Updated description

1.0

Initial release

Adoption Notice

This plugin represents the continued maintenance of the original "Cyr to Lat Enhanced" project, originally developed within the cyr3lat lineage.

The project is actively maintained to ensure long-term stability, modern WordPress compatibility and responsible upkeep, while preserving the core functionality that made the plugin widely adopted.

No user data is collected, no tracking is performed, and the plugin remains focused on its original purpose: slug and filename transliteration.

Credits

Original upstream concept: Rus-To-Lat by Anton Skorobogatov
cyr2lat / cyr3lat lineage contributors: karevn, Atrax, SergeyBiryukov, webvitaly

Maintainer and current developer: Ivijan Stefan Stipic (INFINITUM FORM)

Legal Notice

This plugin retains the original GPL license from the upstream versions.