using wp_redirect to redirect to a permalink

Question

I'm using wp_redirect to change the URL of my 404 page:

function show_404($message = 'page not found'){
   wp_redirect(home_url() . '/error/404?m=' . urlencode($message));
   exit();
}

I have created a wordpress page that has a /error/ permalink. It works fine on my local WAMP environment (properly showing my themed 404 page when navigating to localhost/wordpress/pageThatDNE), but when I test it to a real server, I get a The requested URL /error/404 was not found on this server. message. Navigating to mysite.com/error/ gives me a You don't have permission to access /error/ on this server. message. My other pages/permalinks work fine.

Any ideas how to resolve this?

Answer 1

Because it is looking for the page 404, which is a child of the page /error. Try just doing this:

function show_404($message = 'page not found'){
   wp_redirect(home_url() . '/error?m=' . urlencode($message));
   exit();
}

But your doing it wrong.

You should just use WordPress's internal 404 page, it will save a lot more headaches that will arise in the future. It is as simple as creating a template of 404.php in your current theme directory.