How to add an extra directory in url that works in htaccess and match a selected post?

I have googled a lot, but I can't find the right answer, so I'm asking a question here. It's about htaccess and url for a simple website I'm building with php code. This is how a url currently looks like:

www.example.com/flowers-and-garden/white-flowers-in-spring

What I want to achieve is an extra directory for the name of the year 2025 in the url when I make a new post. And when I post next year a folder for 2026 in the url like this:

www.example.com/flowers-and-garden/2025/white-flowers-in-spring

I have made several attempts to change the code in the htaccess file, but it just gives me errors! I guess it's not just the code in htaccess that I need to change.

This is what part of the current code looks like in the htaccess file:

RewriteRule ^flowers-and-garden$ /?p=flowers-and-garden [L,QSA]

RewriteRule ^flowers-and-garden/(.+)$ /?p=post&id=$1 [L,QSA]

This is what my code currently looks like when someone select a post:

First the request:

{
$request = ($_GET["id"]);
}
else
{
$request = "start";
}

Then check if the requested post match post_path name in the table in the database like this:

$sql = "SELECT * FROM " . DB_TABLE_POSTS . " WHERE post_path='{$request}' AND post_status = 1 LIMIT 1;";

Instead of only check a match of the post white-flowers-in-spring in the table I need to check for a match of 2025/white-flowers-in-spring

How I should check if a requested post match a post in 2025 directory is what I need some help with and how to rewrite the code in htaccess and php. If anything is unclear in my question, please ask me! Thanks in advance!

Solution

.htaccess Configuration

RewriteEngine On

# Optional: support the old format without year
RewriteRule ^flowers-and-garden/([^/]+)$ /?p=post&id=$1 [L,QSA]

# New format: with year (e.g., 2025/white-flowers-in-spring)
RewriteRule ^flowers-and-garden/([0-9]{4})/([^/]+)$ /?p=post&id=$1/$2 [L,QSA]

This will rewrite the URL to something like: ?p=post&id=2025/white-flowers-in-spring

PHP Code

$request = $_GET['id'] ?? 'start';

Now $request will be something like: 2025/white-flowers-in-spring SQL Query Using Prepared Statement

$sql = "SELECT * FROM posts WHERE post_path = :path AND post_status = 1 LIMIT 1";
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($sql);
$stmt->execute(['path' => $request]);
$post = $stmt->fetch();

This is safer and protects from SQL injection. Optional: Year and Slug in Separate Columns

list($year, $slug) = explode('/', $request);

$sql = "SELECT * FROM posts WHERE post_year = :year AND post_slug = :slug AND post_status = 1 LIMIT 1";
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($sql);
$stmt->execute([
    'year' => $year,
    'slug' => $slug
]);
$post = $stmt->fetch();

Let me know if you need help redirecting old URLs or generating links dynamically.