Prevent apostrophes in friend usernames and migrate existing ones by Copilot · Pull Request #581 · akirk/friends

Copilot · 2025-12-22T07:30:18Z

Usernames containing apostrophes (e.g., "John's Friend") caused "Invalid username" errors when accessing admin pages. Instead of handling these special characters in URLs, this fix prevents them from being created in usernames in the first place and migrates existing problematic usernames.

Changes

Prevention - Added automatic username sanitization:

// In User::create() and Subscription::create()
$user_login = User::sanitize_username( $user_login );

All new friend usernames are automatically sanitized using User::sanitize_username() which removes apostrophes and other special characters before user creation. This ensures URLs will always work correctly.

Migration - Added sanitize_usernames migration (version 4.2.1):

Migrates existing WordPress users with special characters in usernames
Migrates existing Subscription terms (virtual users) with special characters
Only updates usernames that need sanitization
Safe: Won't overwrite if new username already exists
Logs all changes for tracking

How it works

Before (with apostrophe):

Username: "John's Friend" → Creates user with apostrophe → URL issues ❌

After (with sanitization):

Username: "John's Friend" → sanitize_username() → "johns-friend" → No URL issues ✓

Rationale

sanitize_user() already exists in the codebase and is designed to create safe usernames by removing special characters. By enforcing this sanitization at the creation point in both User::create() and Subscription::create(), we ensure no problematic usernames can be created. The migration handles any existing edge cases where unsanitized usernames were previously created.

Files Modified

includes/class-user.php - Added sanitization in create method
includes/class-subscription.php - Added sanitization in create method
includes/class-migration.php - Added new migration registration and implementation

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Issues with apostrophes in Friend's name</issue_title>
<issue_description>I recently added a new friend with an apostrophe in their name. This causes issues when trying to view their post, or edit the friend's details: the apostrophe in the https://mysite.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=edit-friend&user= URL causes issues, all I get is an invalid username error:
    wp_die()
    wp-content/plugins/friends/includes/class-admin.php:1088
    Friends\Admin->check_admin_edit_friend()
    wp-content/plugins/friends/includes/class-admin.php:1102
    Friends\Admin->process_admin_edit_friend()
    wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php:324
    do_action('load-friends_page_edit-friend')
    wp-admin/admin.php:238
```</issue_description>

## Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

<comments>
</comments>

Fixes Issues with apostrophes in Friend's name #572

💬 We'd love your input! Share your thoughts on Copilot coding agent in our 2 minute survey.

akirk

Let's rather prevent usernames to have a quote in it in the first place and add a migration for usernames that happened to be created with them already.

Copilot · 2025-12-22T08:38:11Z

Let's rather prevent usernames to have a quote in it in the first place and add a migration for usernames that happened to be created with them already.

Done! I've updated the approach:

Prevention: Added username sanitization in User::create() and Subscription::create() to automatically remove apostrophes and other special characters from all new usernames
Migration: Added sanitize_usernames migration (version 4.2.1) that updates existing usernames with special characters

The migration handles both real WordPress users and virtual Subscription users (stored as taxonomy terms). It only updates usernames that need sanitization and won't overwrite if the new username already exists.

Commit: 3a451ec

akirk · 2025-12-22T08:39:26Z

Please also ensure that in the js that generates the username from the display name no invalid chars make it into the username

akirk · 2025-12-22T08:40:50Z

Let's also move the sanitize_user call into the get_by_username

Co-authored-by: akirk <203408+akirk@users.noreply.github.com>

- Add username sanitization in User::create() and Subscription::create() - Add migration to sanitize existing usernames with special characters - Remove previous URL encoding approach per maintainer feedback Co-authored-by: akirk <203408+akirk@users.noreply.github.com>

…lookups

github-actions · 2026-02-06T07:20:14Z

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Copilot AI assigned Copilot and akirk Dec 22, 2025

Copilot started work on behalf of akirk December 22, 2025 07:30 View session

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Fix issues with apostrophes in friend's name~~ Fix URL encoding for usernames with apostrophes Dec 22, 2025

Copilot AI requested a review from akirk December 22, 2025 07:51

Copilot finished work on behalf of akirk December 22, 2025 07:51

akirk requested changes Dec 22, 2025

View reviewed changes

Copilot started work on behalf of akirk December 22, 2025 08:32 View session

Copilot AI changed the title ~~Fix URL encoding for usernames with apostrophes~~ Prevent apostrophes in friend usernames and migrate existing ones Dec 22, 2025

Copilot AI requested a review from akirk December 22, 2025 08:39

Copilot finished work on behalf of akirk December 22, 2025 08:39

akirk marked this pull request as ready for review February 6, 2026 07:15

Copilot AI and others added 5 commits February 6, 2026 08:19

Initial plan

190c742

Fix URL encoding for usernames with apostrophes

72cafe4

Co-authored-by: akirk <203408+akirk@users.noreply.github.com>

Add test for usernames with apostrophes

2ec8443

Co-authored-by: akirk <203408+akirk@users.noreply.github.com>

Sanitize username in get_by_username to handle special characters in …

f8fb012

…lookups

akirk force-pushed the copilot/fix-apostrophe-issue-friends-name branch from 3a451ec to f8fb012 Compare February 6, 2026 07:20

akirk approved these changes Feb 6, 2026

View reviewed changes

Fix migration version to 4.0.0 to match current plugin version

10395a6

akirk merged commit c3c78af into main Feb 6, 2026
25 checks passed

akirk deleted the copilot/fix-apostrophe-issue-friends-name branch February 6, 2026 07:21

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Prevent apostrophes in friend usernames and migrate existing ones#581

Prevent apostrophes in friend usernames and migrate existing ones#581
akirk merged 6 commits intomainfrom
copilot/fix-apostrophe-issue-friends-name

Copilot AI commented Dec 22, 2025 •

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Copilot AI commented Dec 22, 2025

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Copilot AI commented Dec 22, 2025 •

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