Redirect Restricted Page to 404

4 comments

1. I was able to display a 404 error by using the following code in my header.

   <?php
     global $wp_query;
     $wp_query->set_404();
     status_header( 404 );
     get_template_part( 404 ); exit();
   ?>
   

   To break it down:
   $wp_query->set_404(): tells the wp_query this is a 404, this changes the title
   status_header(): sends a HTTP 404 header
   get_template_part(): displays the 404 template

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2. Why don’t you create a page that show error message and then redirect user to that page? Here is a simple way to achieve that:

   Open the 404.php file and add these lines to the top of it:

   /**
    * Template Name: 404 Page
    */
   

   Create a page with 404 Page template. Then redirect users:

   if ( !current_user_can('administrator') ) {
       $404_page = get_permalink( $404_page_id );
       wp_redirect( $404_page );
       exit();
   }
   

   The reason you should use a page for 404 request is: in WP 404 page actually is a page that doesn’t exists, WP has to search for all of its content before returning the 404 page and that work is a waste of resource. Using a pre-configured page that might help you run your blog faster.

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3. I had a similar requirement where I should not let users access the author.php page based on the role a user was in. I register the template_redirect action to do my checks and redirect to 404 page even before the actual page is loaded.

   Registration:

   add_action( 'template_redirect', [ $this, 'handle_inactive_users']);
   

   Handler:

   public function handle_inactive_users() {
       global $wp_query;
       if ( $wp_query->is_author() ) {
           $user = $wp_query->get_queried_object();
           if ( is_a( $user, WP_User::class ) && $user->has_cap( 'inactive' ) ) {
               $wp_query->set_404();
               status_header( 404 );
               get_template_part( 404 );
               exit();
           }
       }
   }
   

   If you chose to only use the following code snippet in the middle of template part, the page may have already been rendered partially and you are not actually redirected to a 404 page. So better to do it in the template_redirect action –

   $wp_query->set_404();
   status_header( 404 );
   get_template_part( 404 );
   exit();
   

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4. You can write this code to file 404.php in actually used theme directory (wp-content/themes/…./404.php):

   <?php
   header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
   header("Location: ".get_bloginfo('url'));
   exit();
   ?>
   

   This code must start from begin of file (without any characters before).

   Link to original: How to Redirect your 404 page to the Home Page in WordPress

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