When does WordPress load archive.php and when single.php

I am rewriting the URLs for a custom post type.

    // Add rewrite rule
    function custom_rewrite_basic() {
      add_rewrite_rule(
                '^movies/([^/]*)/([^/]*)/?',
                'index.php?post_type=movies&movie_id=$matches[1]',
                'top'
            );
    }
    add_action('init', 'custom_rewrite_basic');

However the above code only sends me to the archive page.

URL example: example.com/movies/157336/
The ID is a custom field, and not the actual post ID.

When I rewrite the URL to index.php?post_type=movies&movie_id=$matches[1]&name=$matches[2] then wordpress loads the single.php

Yes I have read through https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/template-files/ and https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/template-hierarchy/ however it does not mention anything about what is required to request the single.php or archive.php page.

From trial and error it seems when the GET parameters p or name are available, then WordPress loads the single.php, otherwise it loads archive.php

I want wordpress to load the single.php or in this case single-movies.php without using p or name as URL parameters.

How can I tell wordpress to do that?

• This topic was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by Liddika.