Command Center

Despite the tons of examples and docs, mod_rewrite is voodoo. Damned cool voodoo, but still voodoo.
-- Brian Moore

Htaccess rewrites TOC ^

• .htaccess rewrite examples should begin with:
• Require the www
• Require no www
• Check for a key in QUERY_STRING
• Removes the QUERY_STRING from the URL
• Fix for infinite loops
• Redirect .php files to .html files (SEO friendly)
• Redirect .html files to actual .php files (SEO friendly)
• block access to files during certain hours of the day
• Rewrite underscores to hyphens for SEO URL
• Require the www without hardcoding
• Require no subdomain
• Require no subdomain
• Redirecting WordPress Feeds to Feedburner
• Only allow GET and PUT request methods
• Prevent Files image/file hotlinking and bandwidth stealing
• Stop browser prefetching

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 ^

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/(stats/|missing\.html|failed_auth\.html|error/).* [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [L]
 
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} 200
RewriteRule .* - [L]

Cache-Friendly File Names ^

RewriteRule ^zap/(j|c)/([a-z]+)-([0-9]+)\.(js|css)$ /zap/$1/$2.$4 [L]

SEO friendly link for non-flash browsers ^

RewriteRule ^getflash/?$ http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash [NC,L,R=307]

Removing 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 ^

RewriteRule ^(.+)\.pdf$  /cgi-bin/pdf-script.php?file=$1.pdf [L,NC,QSA]

Setting the language variable based on Client ^

RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Language} ^.*(de|es|fr|it|ja|ru|en).*$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [env=prefer-language:%1]

Deny Access To Everyone Except PHP fopen ^

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.+$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

Deny access to anything in a subfolder except php fopen ^

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 ^

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !passkey
RewriteRule ^/logged-in/(.*)$ /login.php [L]

Removes the QUERY_STRING from the URL ^

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} .
RewriteRule ^login.php /login.php? [L]

Fix for infinite loops ^

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) ^

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]

This module uses a rule-based rewriting engine (based on a regular-expression parser) to rewrite requested URLs on the fly. It supports an unlimited number of rules and an unlimited number of attached rule conditions for each rule, to provide a really flexible and powerful URL manipulation mechanism. The URL manipulations can depend on various tests, of server variables, environment variables, HTTP headers, or time stamps. Even external database lookups in various formats can be used to achieve highly granular URL matching.
This module operates on the full URLs (including the path-info part) both in per-server context (httpd.conf) and per-directory context (.htaccess) and can generate query-string parts on result. The rewritten result can lead to internal sub-processing, external request redirection or even to an internal proxy throughput.
Further details, discussion, and examples, are provided in the detailed mod_rewrite documentation.

Directives ^

• RewriteBase
• RewriteCond
• RewriteEngine
• RewriteLock
• RewriteLog
• RewriteLogLevel
• RewriteMap
• RewriteOptions
• RewriteRule

htaccess Guide Sections ^

• htaccess tricks for Webmasters
• HTTP Header control with htaccess
• PHP on Apache tips and tricks
• SEO Redirects without mod_rewrite
• mod_rewrite examples, tips, and tricks
• HTTP Caching and Site Speedups
• Authentication on Apache
• htaccess Security Tricks and Tips
• SSL tips and examples
• Variable Fun (mod_env) Section
• .htaccess Security with MOD_SECURITY
• SetEnvIf and SetEnvIfNoCase Examples

What's Going On ^

1. The browser display's a "Save File As" dialog, allowing you to save the file or open.
2. The browser opens the pdf file "Inline", opening the pdf file in the browser like a web page.
3. The browser "Downloads" the pdf file automatically as an "Attachment" and then causes an external pdf reader program like adobe reader to open the file.

How It Works ^

Unique HTTP Headers Returned ^

Save As Mode (askapache_pdf=s) ^

Content-Disposition: attachment
Content-Type: application/pdf

Inline Mode (askapache_pdf=i) ^

Content-Type: application/pdf

Download Mode (askapache_pdf=a) ^

Content-Type: application/octet-stream

Htaccess Demo File ^

AddType application/pdf .pdf

RewriteEngine On

RewriteRule !.*\.pdf$ - [S=2]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !^.*askapache_pdf.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} ^.*askapache_pdf=s.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [E=ASKAPACHE_PDFS:1]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} ^.*askapache_pdf=a.*$
RewriteRule .* - [T=application/octet-stream]

Header set Content-Disposition "attachment" env=ASKAPACHE_PDFS

Javascript used by Demo ^

if(!gi('pdfr'))return;
var pdfr=gi('pdfr');
var cval=getCookie('askapache_pdf');
 
if(cval=='i'){pdfr.innerHTML='Currently set to "Inline".';}
else if(cval=='a'){pdfr.innerHTML='Currently set to "Download" mode.';}
else if(cval=='s'){pdfr.innerHTML='Currently set to "Save As" mode.';}
 
addMyEvent(gi('pdfi'),"mousedown",function(){
  setCookie("askapache_pdf", "i", "", "/", "www.askapache.com"); gi('pdfr').innerHTML = 'Changed mode to "Inline".'; return false; });
addMyEvent(gi('pdfa'),"mousedown",function(){
  setCookie("askapache_pdf", "a", "", "/", "www.askapache.com"); gi('pdfr').innerHTML = 'Changed mode to "Download".'; return false; });
addMyEvent(gi('pdfs'),"mousedown",function(){
  setCookie("askapache_pdf", "s", "", "/", "www.askapache.com"); gi('pdfr').innerHTML = 'Changed mode to "Save As".'; return false; });

Alternative Method - No Cookies + PHP ^

pdf-dl.php ^

Alternate Method .htaccess ^

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*pdf-dl\.php.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ([^/]*)-i\.pdf$  /cgi-bin/pdf-dl.php?i=i&file=%{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/storage/pdf/$1.pdf [L,NC,QSA,S=1]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ([^/]*)\.pdf$  /cgi-bin/pdf-dl.php?file=%{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/storage/pdf/$1.pdf [L,NC,QSA]

Got some fresh .htaccess and mod_rewrite code for you! Check out the Cookie Manipulation and Tests using mod_rewrite! Also see how to set environment variables and then use them to send custom Headers (like content-language) and Rewrite based on them. And a couple Mod_Security .htaccess examples, for those smart enough to run onDreamHost. Enjoy!

• Mod_Rewrite .htaccess Examples
• Cookie Manipulation and Tests with mod_rewrite
• Setting Environment Variables
• Using the Environment Variable
• Mod_Security .htaccess Examples

Mod_Rewrite .htaccess Examples ^

Redirect Request ending in .html/ to .html ^

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /(.+)\.html/\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(.+)\.html/$ http://www.askapache.com/$1.html [R=301,L]

Or a lower quality alternative ^

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^[^\.]+\.html/$
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.html.*$ http://www.askapache.com/$1.html [R=301,L]

Redirect All Feeds to Feedburner's MyBrand ^

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /(feed|wp-atom|wp-feed|wp-rss|wp-rdf|wp-commentsrss)(.*)\ HTTP/ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^feed [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} !^(FeedBurner|FeedValidator|talkr) [NC]
RewriteRule .* http://feeds.askapache.com/apache/htaccess? [R=307,L]

Cookie Manipulation and Tests with mod_rewrite ^

Set a Cookie based on Requested directory ^

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^(.*)(de|es|fr|it|ja|ru|en)/$ - [co=lang:$2:.askapache.com:7200:/]

Get Cookie Value ^

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} lang=([^;]+) [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /$1?cookie-value=%1 [R,QSA,L]

Rewrite Based on Cookie Value ^

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} lang=([^;]+) [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /$1?lang=%1 [NC,L,QSA]

Redirect If Cookie Not Set ^

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !^.*cookie-name.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* /login-error/set-cookie-first.cgi [NC,L]

Setting Environment Variables ^

Set lang var to Accept-Language Header ^

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Language} ^.*(de|es|fr|it|ja|ru|en).*$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [env=lang:%1]

Set lang var to URI ^

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /(.+)/(de|es|fr|it|ja|ru|en)/\ HTTP/ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [env=lang:%2]

Using the Environment Variable ^

Send Content-Language Header based on environment variable ^

Header set Content-Language "%{lang}e" env=lang

Set a Cookie with env variable value only if has value ^

Header set Set-Cookie "language=%{lang}e; path=/;" env=lang

Echo all Headers back! ^

Header echo ^.*

Mod_Security .htaccess Examples ^

Turn OFF mod_security ^

SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off

Reject Requests with Status 500 ^

# Reject requests with status 500
SecFilterDefaultAction "deny,log,status:500"