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Why did the word 'and' appear in my product URL when I only typed an ampersand?

Because Latin mode in the slug generator spells the ampersand out as 'and' by default, so the meaning of Salt & Pepper survives in the URL instead of vanishing. Switch off 'Turn & into and' and the sign becomes an ordinary separator and disappears. Arabic mode has no such option at all: there the sign always becomes a separator.

Published · 3 min read

The example both ways

A product name for a salt and pepper grinder, in Latin mode:

salt-and-pepper-grinder salt-pepper-grinder

The first line uses the default, at 23 characters. The second is with the option off, at 19. The difference is four characters and a word that carries meaning.

Why 'and' is the default

The ampersand cannot stay in a slug as it is, because it has a special job in web addresses: it separates the parameters after a question mark. So it either goes or becomes a word. Dropping it turns 'salt and pepper' into 'salt pepper', which is usually acceptable, but for a name like Oud & Musk Gift Set the slug oud-and-musk-gift-set reads more clearly.

When to switch it off

  • When the slug is long and every character counts: 'and' is three letters plus an extra separator.
  • When the & is part of a brand name, where 'and' inside it looks odd: M&M Cookies becomes m-and-m-cookies with the option and m-m-cookies without. Neither is ideal, so you may prefer to type the name yourself in the result field.
  • When stop-word removal is on: 'and' is on the stop-word list, so it disappears anyway. Salt & Pepper Grinder with both options on gives salt-pepper-grinder.

Why did 'amp' show up in my slug?

This one is worth knowing. If you copied the product name from page source or from an export file, the ampersand may be written in its HTML-encoded form: an & followed by amp and a semicolon. The tool does not decode that, so it sees an ampersand and then the word amp:

Salt & Pepper

and the slug comes out as salt-and-amp-pepper. The fix is to correct the copied title to a single & before converting, or delete amp from the result field.

The steps

  1. Open the URL slug generator and choose 'Latin ASCII'.
  2. Paste the product name and make sure it does not contain an encoded ampersand.
  3. Decide on 'Turn & into and' based on the cases above.
  4. Copy the slug.

And in Arabic mode? The title عود & مسك becomes عود-مسك directly, because the option belongs to Latin mode alone and only appears on the page there. If you want the joining word in an Arabic slug, write عود ومسك in the title.

Common questions

Does & become the Arabic 'و' in Arabic mode?

No. In Arabic mode the sign only becomes a separator. Type the و yourself in the title if you want it.

Does this option affect the plus sign?

No. The option covers & alone; + becomes a separator in both modes.

Is the option on by default?

Yes, in Latin mode.