Mod_Rewrite Tips and Tricks is as glamorous as it sounds! mod_rewrite is just possibly one of the most useful Apache modules and features. The ability to rewrite requests internally as well as externally is extremely powerful.
RewriteRule and RewriteCond for .htaccess mod_rewrite
Be aware that mod_rewrite (RewriteRule, RewriteBase, and RewriteCond) code is executed for each and every HTTP request that accesses a file in or below the directory where the code resides, so it’s always good to limit the code to certain circumstances if readily identifiable.
For example, to limit the next 5 RewriteRules to only be applied to .html and .php files, you can use the following code, which tests if the url does not end in .html or .php and if it doesn’t, it will skip the next 5 RewriteRules.
RewriteRule !\.(html|php)$ - [S=5] RewriteRule ^.*-(vf12|vf13|vf5|vf35|vf1|vf10|vf33|vf8).+$ - [S=1]
.htaccess rewrite examples should begin with:
Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteBase /
Require the www
Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.askapache\.com$ [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.askapache.com/$1 [R=301,L]
Loop Stopping Code
Sometimes your rewrites cause infinite loops, stop it with one of these rewrite code snippets.
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/(stats/|missing\.html|failed_auth\.html|error/).* [NC] RewriteRule .* - [L]
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} 200 RewriteRule .* - [L]
Cache-Friendly File Names
This is probably my favorite, and I use it on every site I work on. It allows me to update my javascript and css files in my visitors cache’s simply by naming them differently in the html, on the server they stay the same name. This rewrites all files for /zap/j/anything-anynumber.js to /zap/j/anything.js and /zap/c/anything-anynumber.css to /zap/c/anything.css
RewriteRule ^zap/(j|c)/([a-z]+)-([0-9]+)\.(js|css)$ /zap/$1/$2.$4 [L]
SEO friendly link for non-flash browsers
When you use flash on your site and you properly supply a link to download flash that shows up for non-flash aware browsers, it is nice to use a shortcut to keep your code clean and your external links to a minimum. This code allows me to link to site.com/getflash/ for non-flash aware browsers.
RewriteRule ^getflash/?$ http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash [NC,L,R=307]
Removing the Query_String
On many sites, the page will be displayed for both page.html and page.html?anything=anything, which hurts your SEO with duplicate content. An easy way to fix this issue is to redirect external requests containing a query string to the same uri without the query_string.
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET\ /.*\;.*\ HTTP/ RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !^$ RewriteRule .* http://www.askapache.com%{REQUEST_URI}? [R=301,L]
Sending requests to a php script
This .htaccess rewrite example invisibly rewrites requests for all Adobe pdf files to be handled by /cgi-bin/pdf-script.php
RewriteRule ^(.+)\.pdf$ /cgi-bin/pdf-script.php?file=$1.pdf [L,NC,QSA]
Setting the language variable based on Client
For sites using multiviews or with multiple language capabilities, it is nice to be able to send the correct language automatically based on the clients preferred language.
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Language} ^.*(de|es|fr|it|ja|ru|en).*$ [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [env=prefer-language:%1]
Deny Access To Everyone Except PHP fopen
This allows access to all files by php fopen, but denies anyone else.
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.+$ [NC] RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
Deny access to anything in a subfolder except php fopen
This can be very handy if you want to serve media files or special downloads but only through a php proxy script.
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /([^/]+)/.*\ HTTP [NC] RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
Require no www
Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^askapache\.com$ [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://askapache.com/$1 [R=301,L]
Check for a key in QUERY_STRING
Uses a RewriteCond Directive to check QUERY_STRING for passkey, if it doesn’t find it it redirects all requests for anything in the /logged-in/ directory to the /login.php script.
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !passkey RewriteRule ^/logged-in/(.*)$ /login.php [L]
Removes the QUERY_STRING from the URL
If the QUERY_STRING has any value at all besides blank than the?at the end of /login.php? tells mod_rewrite to remove the QUERY_STRING from login.php and redirect.
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} . RewriteRule ^login.php /login.php? [L]
Fix for infinite loops
An error message related to this isRequest exceeded the limit of 10 internal redirects due to probable configuration error. Use 'LimitInternalRecursion' to increase the limit if necessary. Use 'LogLevel debug' to get a backtrace.or you may seeRequest exceeded the limit,probable configuration error,Use 'LogLevel debug' to get a backtrace, orUse 'LimitInternalRecursion' to increase the limit if necessary
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} 200 RewriteRule .* - [L]
External Redirect .php files to .html files (SEO friendly)
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.php$ /$1.html [R=301,L]
Internal Redirect .php files to .html files (SEO friendly)
Redirects all files that end in .html to be served from filename.php so it looks like all your pages are .html but really they are .php
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html$ $1.php [R=301,L]
block access to files during certain hours of the day
Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / # If the hour is 16 (4 PM) Then deny all access RewriteCond %{TIME_HOUR} ^16$ RewriteRule ^.*$ - [F,L]
Rewrite underscores to hyphens for SEO URL
Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule !\.(html|php)$ - [S=4] RewriteRule ^([^_]*)_([^_]*)_([^_]*)_([^_]*)_(.*)$ $1-$2-$3-$4-$5 [E=uscor:Yes] RewriteRule ^([^_]*)_([^_]*)_([^_]*)_(.*)$ $1-$2-$3-$4 [E=uscor:Yes] RewriteRule ^([^_]*)_([^_]*)_(.*)$ $1-$2-$3 [E=uscor:Yes] RewriteRule ^([^_]*)_(.*)$ $1-$2 [E=uscor:Yes] RewriteCond %{ENV:uscor} ^Yes$ RewriteRule (.*) http://d.com/$1 [R=301,L]
Require the www without hardcoding
Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.[a-z-]+\.[a-z]{2,6} [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ([a-z-]+\.[a-z]{2,6})$ [NC] RewriteRule ^/(.*)$ http://%1/$1 [R=301,L]
Require no subdomain
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} \.([a-z-]+\.[a-z]{2,6})$ [NC] RewriteRule ^/(.*)$ http://%1/$1 [R=301,L]
Require no subdomain
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} \.([^\.]+\.[^\.0-9]+)$ RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://%1/$1 [R=301,L]
Redirecting Wordpress Feeds to Feedburner
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/feed\.gif$ RewriteRule .* - [L] RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} !^.*(FeedBurner|FeedValidator) [NC] RewriteRule ^feed/?.*$ http://feeds.feedburner.com/apache/htaccess [L,R=302] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
Only allow GET and PUT Request Methods
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !^(GET|PUT) RewriteRule .* - [F]
Prevent Files image/file hotlinking and bandwidth stealing
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$ RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?askapache.com/.*$ [NC] RewriteRule \.(gif|jpg|swf|flv|png)$ /feed/ [R=302,L]
Stop browser prefetching
RewriteEngine On SetEnvIfNoCase X-Forwarded-For .+ proxy=yes SetEnvIfNoCase X-moz prefetch no_access=yes # block pre-fetch requests with X-moz headers RewriteCond %{ENV:no_access} yes RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
Make a prefetching hint for Firefox.
Header append Link " ; rel=prefetch"
