Get URL Category Name By ID

Question

I have this URL:
http://example.com/?s=&cp_state=0&scat=16&sa=search&refine_search=yes

and this code on search.php:

<?php                  
$searchTxt = trim( strip_tags( esc_attr( get_search_query() ) ) );
$state_append = '';
$state = $_GET['cp_state'];
if($state != '0') 
    $state_append = __('', APP_TD).' ' . $state;

$cat_id =  $_GET['scat'];
if ( $searchTxt ==  __('What are you looking for? ', APP_TD) || $searchTxt == __('[All]', APP_TD) ) 
    $searchTxt = '*';   

if($searchTxt){
    if($searchTxt == '*') {
        if($cat = get_term_by('id', $cat_id, 'ad_cat')) {
            printf( __("Ads %s %s ", APP_TD), $cat->name, $state_append, $wp_query->found_posts ); 
        } else {
            printf( __("Ads %s ", APP_TD), $state_append, $wp_query->found_posts ); 
        }
    } else {
        printf( __("What are you looking for? '%s' %s ", APP_TD), $searchTxt, $state_append,      $wp_query->found_posts ); 
    }
}else{
    $searchTxt = trim( strip_tags( esc_attr( get_search_query() ) ) );
    printf( __("What are you looking for? '%s' %s ", APP_TD), $searchTxt, $state_append,      $wp_query->found_posts );
}
echo $cat_id;
?>

I would like to get the category name of the URL. I try to use echo $cat_id, but it gives me the number and not the name of the category.

How can I "echo" the name of category instead the number?

Answer 1

You are already using the get_term_by() method in your code. That's the way to get information about your category, i.e.:

$myterm = get_term_by('id', $cat_id, 'category');
if ( $myterm ) {
    echo $myterm->name;
}

PS. I used 'category' as taxonomy, you might have a different term (i.e. ad_cat).