Obtain CodeIgniter links that consider routes.php - codeigniter

Question

How can I link pages in my site considering routes.php?
Example:
$route['login'] = 'user/login';
The code above allows me to see "user/login" visiting just "login". But how can I link to that page using the internal route (user/login) and get as a result the "external route" "login".
I think it's important because I could change my URLs just modifiying "routes.php" and linking everything with internal routes.
From a Drupal perspective I can have my internal route "node/1" and the external url could be "about-us". So if I use "l('node/1')" this will return "about-us". Is there a function like "drupal_get_path_alias"?
Right now I can't find anything in the CI docs that point me to the right direction.
Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

You could have a look at using something like
http://osvaldas.info/smart-database-driven-routing-in-codeigniter
This would allow you to have the routes configured in the database. Then if you want to dynamically create you links through a model like this:
class AppRoutesModel extends CI_Model
{
public function getUrl($controller)
{
$this->db->select('slug');
$this->db->from('app_routes');
$this->db->where('controller', $controller);
$query = $this->db->result();
$data = $query->row();
$this->load->library('url');
return base_url($data->slug);
}
public function getController($slug)
{
$this->db->select('controller');
$this->db->from('app_routes');
$this->db->where('slug', $slug);
$query = $this->db->result();
$data = $query->row();
return $data->controller;
}
}
These have not been fully tested but will hopefully give you the general idea.
I hope this helps you :)
Edit------------------------------
You can create a routes_helper.php and add a function like
//application/helpers/routes_helper.php
function get_route($path)
{
require __DIR__ . '/../config/routes.php';
foreach ($route as $key => $controller) {
if ($path == $controller) {
return $key;
}
}
return false;
}
$this->load->helper('routes');
echo get_route('controller/method');
This does roughly what you want although this method does not support the $1 $2 etc vars that can be added to reflect the :num or :any wildcard that exist. You can edit the function to add that functionality but this will point you in the right direction :D

Answer 2

You can do that with .htaccess file:
Redirect 301 /user/login http://www.example.com/login