Using switchee to redirect to 404 if no category exists

Question

I'm interested in redirecting to a 404 if no category exists at the URL, for example if category xyz doesn't exist at; mydomain.tld/shop/category/xyz

I'm using Switchee and a case value for category as follows;

{exp:switchee variable="{segment_2}" parse="inward"}
    {case value="category"}
        {!-- Redirect to 404 if no category exists here --}
    {/case}
{/exp:switchee}

Wondering if anyone knows how to do a redirect here if a matching category is not found?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Get Low Seg2Cat, make sure the Set All Segments setting is set to Yes, and then use something like this:

{if segment_2 == 'category' AND segment_3_category_id == ''}
  {redirect="404"}
{/if}

...or the Switchee equivalent.

Answer 2

I didn't have time to write this out before you chose Low's answer though, I will add it just the same for future reference:

{exp:switchee variable="{segment_2}/{segment_3}" parse="inward"}
    {case value="#^category/\S+$#"}
        your code....
    {/case}
    {case default="yes"}
        {redirect="404"}
    {/case}
{/exp:switchee}

This assumes you will always have something in segment 3 or else go 404