Can't get WordPress custom rewrite rules to work

[Ilan Firsov]

I’m trying to create a custom rewrite rule for a file download
The rewrite rule itself is working, but I can’t get any custom parameters (rewrite tags) to work.

So this is my test plugin:

<?php

add_action('init', 'my_init', 10, 0);

function my_init() {
    my_add_rewrite_tags();
    my_add_rewrite_rules();
    my_maybe_flush_rewrite_rules();
    my_maybe_start_download();
}

function my_add_rewrite_tags() {
    add_rewrite_tag( '%test%', '([^&]+)' );
}

function my_add_rewrite_rules() {
    add_rewrite_rule( 'test/([^/]+)/?', 'index.php?pagename=sample-page&test=$matches[1]', 'top' );
}

function my_maybe_flush_rewrite_rules() {
    // no_rewrite_rule_flush_needed transient is removed on plugin activation/deactivation
    if ( ! get_transient( 'no_rewrite_rule_flush_needed' ) ) {
        flush_rewrite_rules();
        set_transient( 'no_rewrite_rule_flush_needed', true );
    }
}

function my_maybe_start_download() {
    global $wp_query;

    $test = $wp_query->get( 'test' );

    print_r(get_defined_vars());
    return;
}

I can see the sample-page page when I navigate to localhost/test/something so the rewrite rule appears to be working, but I can’t get the value for test parameter.
Any ideas how to get this to work?

[Ilan Firsov]

Looks like I’ve got it to work.
First thing I moved the call to maybe_start_download() to the wp action hook.
At first it still didn’t work so I changed add_rewrite_tag( '%test%', '([^&]+)' ); to add_rewrite_tag( '%test%', '([^/]+)' ); and then it started working.
The interesting thing is that it works now even if I change the regex in add_rewrite_tag back to ([^&]+) it still works.

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