I would like my website to point any URL
website.com/about/
website.com/about/more/
to the homepage. However, I would also like to maintain the URL in the browser URL bar.
How can I achieve this?
A redirect can be achieved with
RewriteRule .* / [L,R=301]
I have tried with
RewriteRule .* / [L,NC]
but then wordpress displays the page /about/ rather than ignoring the URL and just showing the homepage.
I assume you plan to replace the native mechanisms Wordpress uses to serve the queried objects and correct templates at each URL. I must say I don't see the point in doing this as you would lose many of the things Wordpress does to make our lives easier. You would have to write your own code to handle each scenario, like 404's for example. Maybe Wordpress is not the most ideal tool for what you intend.
Regardless, if I wanted to do that, I would probably just add a rewrite rule (through a plugin, not on the .htaccess) pointing any URL in the domain to the index:
function prefix_rewrite_rules(){
add_rewrite_rule(
'.*',
'index.php',
'top' //Places it as the prioritary rewrite rule
);
}
add_action( 'init', 'prefix_rewrite_rules' );
Just as the other answer pointed out, you are adding a rewrite rule, so you must visit the Settings > Permalinks page in the admin, so that Wordpress may flush the rewrite rules and include this one. (Contrary to what was said in the other answer's comments, you only need to visit the page. Clicking "Save Changes" is not necessary).
Add this code to the functions.php file of your (child) theme or as a plugin-
add_action( 'init', 'wpse_393237_add_any_endpoint' );
function wpse_393237_add_any_endpoint() {
add_rewrite_endpoint( '.*', EP_ALL );
}
Please note, you may need to flush the rewrite rules if you see a 404 error. (simply saving the permalink does the trick)
Ref: https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/add_rewrite_endpoint/
