Mod-Rewrite Tricks and Tips - .Htaccess rewrites rules

If you really want to take a look, check out the mod_rewrite.c and mod_rewrite.h files.

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.

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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\.yourdomain\.com$ [NC]  
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yourdomain.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]  

If you are looking for ways to block or deny specific requests/visitors, then you should definately read Blacklist with mod_rewrite. I give it a 10/10

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} !^yourdomain\.com$ [NC]  
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://yourdomain.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]