# The dot «.» symbol is stripped from a category slug

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-dot-symbol-is-stripped-from-a-category-slug/42384>\
**Category:** Feature\
**Created:** [2016年四月11日 11:00 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-dot-symbol-is-stripped-from-a-category-slug/42384 "2016-04-11T11:00:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dmitry\_fedyuk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/dmitry_fedyuk/32/293153_2.png) [@dmitry\_fedyuk](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dmitry_fedyuk)\
**Post date:** [2016年四月11日 11:00 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-dot-symbol-is-stripped-from-a-category-slug/42384/1 "2016-04-11T11:00:08Z")

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![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/7/e/7e3b97f7efcaa2002ed47b56794c73e4e929bcea.png)

![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/7/c/7c039f3655bbe8d18142fee87b97289065be4570.png)

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**Author:** ![eviltrout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/eviltrout/32/5275_2.png) [@eviltrout](https://meta.discourse.org/u/eviltrout)\
**Post date:** [2016年四月11日 15:53 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-dot-symbol-is-stripped-from-a-category-slug/42384/2 "2016-04-11T15:53:24Z")

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This isn’t a bug. We don’t put periods in URLs as it can trip up Rail’s mime detection, or make it look like you’re downloading a file. For example `virus.exe`

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**Author:** ![Mittineague](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/mittineague/32/114259_2.png) [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)\
**Post date:** [2016年四月11日 18:10 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-dot-symbol-is-stripped-from-a-category-slug/42384/3 "2016-04-11T18:10:47Z")

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If you look at the modal, it reads

Category Slug

(Optional) dashed-words for url

Not a problem as long as someone knows what format slugs have.  
Not a problem as long as someone knows what is and isn’t a word.

It seems seeing “dashed-words” would be clue enough.  
And coders would understand `[-a-z]+`

But I can’t think of any way things could be made more clear so that everyone would understand what it does.

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**Author:** ![fantasticfears](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/fantasticfears/32/119608_2.png) [@fantasticfears](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fantasticfears)\
**Post date:** [2016年四月11日 18:26 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-dot-symbol-is-stripped-from-a-category-slug/42384/4 "2016-04-11T18:26:49Z")

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> [@Mittineague](#):
>
> [(Optional) dashed-words for url]

Slug is like a auto generated stuff under the hood (mainly for topic). It’s the only place where we can change a slug. This is also why it doesn’t show a validation error but changed the string under the hood.

> [@Mittineague](#):
>
> And coders would understand [-a-z]+

Might be good for adding a validation in client side or server. It’s meant for other languages and often accompanied a `slug_generation_method` setting of `encoded`.