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Cyr-To-Lat

By Sergey Biryukov

Site Administration & Utilities / URL Redirects & 301 Management

Cyr-To-Lat Review - In-Depth Analysis

Convert Cyrillic characters in post, page, and term slugs to Latin characters for better readability.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

7.21/10

User Rating

4.7/5 (based on 98+ reviews)

Active Installations

300,000+

Update Frequency

Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

1 / 10 (Very Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

This plugin converts Cyrillic characters in post, page, and term slugs to Latin characters. It is useful for creating human-readable URLs that can enhance SEO and user experience.

The plugin features a fully editable transliteration table, allowing users to add, remove, and edit character pairs. For example, you can change 'Я' to 'Ya' or 'Пиво' to 'Beer'. It can convert any number of existing slugs in the background while maintaining the integrity of existing permalinks.

Additionally, it performs transliteration of attachment file names and supports various languages including Russian, Belorussian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Greek, Armenian, Georgian, Kazakh, Hebrew, and Chinese characters. The plugin is officially compatible with WPML.

Comparing to Alternatives

Cyr-To-Lat is a straightforward transliteration plugin focusing on Cyrillic to Latin conversion, competing with similar plugins like Ukr-To-Lat and Cyr to Lat enhanced.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Simple and effective transliteration for multiple Cyrillic languages.
Regular updates addressing bugs and compatibility.
Works well with WooCommerce for URL transliteration.
Supports transliteration of posts, pages, menus, and taxonomies.
Free and easy to use without complex setup.

Weaknesses

Limited language support beyond certain Cyrillic alphabets.
No option to disable transliteration for tags and categories separately.
Occasional issues with quick editing in some themes.
Lacks advanced customization features found in some alternatives.

User Sentiment Analysis

User feedback highlights the plugin's reliability and ease of use, though some limitations and bugs are noted.

Positive highlights

'Excellent plugin with regular updates' - grisym
'Works perfectly on my WooCommerce store' - Theposudka
'Fixed attribute issues with latest update' - vl33
'Transliterates URLs for posts, pages, and menus effectively' - AndreyPominov

Common complaints

Does not transliterate the letter Є as expected.
No separate settings to disable transliteration for tags and categories.
Issues with quick editing categories in certain themes.
Limited support for non-Cyrillic languages like Greek or Hebrew.

Weaknesses

Missing Russian language support in recent versions as per some users.
Lacks advanced language and customization options.
Some bugs remain unresolved in latest versions.

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users needing a simple, free plugin to transliterate Cyrillic URLs to Latin, especially for WooCommerce stores and standard WordPress content.

Not ideal for

Those requiring extensive language support beyond Cyrillic alphabets or advanced customization options for transliteration behavior.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers essential transliteration features for posts, pages, menus, and taxonomies without restrictions or ads.

Final Verdict

Cyr-To-Lat is a reliable and straightforward plugin for transliterating Cyrillic characters to Latin, suitable for users who want a free and easy solution without complex features.

While it lacks advanced customization and broader language support, it performs well for its intended purpose and is regularly updated to fix issues.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Cyr-To-Lat plugin.

Cyrillic

Slugs

Transliteration

Screenshots

FAQ

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

/**  * Modify conversion table.  *  * @param array $table Conversion table.  *  * @return array  */ function my_ctl_table( $table ) {    $table['Ъ'] = 'U';    $table['ъ'] = 'u';     return $table; } add_filter( 'ctl_table', 'my_ctl_table' );

For instance, if your non-standard locale is uk_UA, you can redefine it to uk by adding the following code to your theme’s function.php file:

/**  * Use non-standard locale.  *  * @param string $locale Current locale.  *  * @return string  */ function my_ctl_locale( $locale ) {     if ( 'uk_UA' === $locale ) {         return 'uk';     }      return $locale; } add_filter( 'ctl_locale', 'my_ctl_locale' );

Add similar code to your theme’s functions.php file:

/**  * Filter title before sanitizing.  *  * @param string|false $result Sanitized title.  * @param string       $title  Title.  *  * @return string|false  */ function my_ctl_pre_sanitize_title( $result, $title ) {     if ( 'пиво' === $title ) {         return 'beer';     }      return $result; } add_filter( 'ctl_pre_sanitize_title', 10, 2 );

Add similar code to your theme’s functions.php file:

/**  * Filter filename before sanitizing.  *  * @param string|false $result   Sanitized filename.  * @param string       $filename Title.  *  * @return string|false  */ function my_ctl_pre_sanitize_filename( $result, $filename ) {     if ( 'пиво' === $filename ) {         return 'beer';     }      return $result; } add_filter( 'ctl_pre_sanitize_filename', 10, 2 );

Add the following code to your plugin’s (or mu-plugin’s) main file. This code won’t work being added to a theme’s functions.php file.

/**  * Filter status allowed Cyr To Lat plugin to work.  *  * @param bool $allowed  *  * @return bool  */ function my_ctl_allow( bool $allowed ): bool {     $uri = isset( $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ) ?         sanitize_url( wp_unslash( $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ) ) :         '';      if ( 0 === strpos( $uri, '/divi-comments' ) ) {         return true;     }      return $allowed; }  add_filter( 'ctl_allow', 'my_ctl_allow' );

Add similar code to your theme’s functions.php file:

/**  * Filter post types allowed for background conversion.  *  * @param array $post_types Allowed post types.  *  * @return array  */ function my_ctl_post_types( $post_types ) {     return [         'post'          => 'post',         'page'          => 'page',         'attachment'    => 'attachment',         'product'       => 'product',         'nav_menu_item' => 'nav_menu_item',     ]; } add_filter( 'ctl_post_types', 'my_ctl_post_types' );

Use the following command in the console:

wp cyr2lat regenerate [--post_type=<post_type>] [--post_status=<post_status>]

Where
-post_type is a list of post types,
-post_status is a list of post statuses.

Regeneration of thumbnails with the command wp media regenerate can break links in old posts as file names become transliterated.

To avoid it, deactivate the cyr2lat plugin during regeneration:

wp media regenerate --skip-plugins=cyr2lat

Version 7.0 uses explicit slug handlers for posts, terms, WooCommerce attributes, and other known save paths. A legacy sanitize_title bridge remains as a compatibility fallback for broad calls that older integrations may still rely on.

You can disable the broad fallback with this code:

add_filter( 'ctl_enable_legacy_sanitize_title_bridge', '__return_false' );

The filter receives the current default value, $title, $raw_title, and $context. Explicit known contexts, such as WordPress save handling, continue to use the dedicated 7.0 slug paths.

For debugging unknown bridge calls, define CYR_TO_LAT_DEBUG_LEGACY_SANITIZE_TITLE_BRIDGE as true. This diagnostic log is disabled by default and is not enabled by WP_DEBUG.