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Solved
htaccess rewrite rule - optional trailing slash
Posted on 2011-03-04
my client has requested that a URL work regardless of whether or not there is a trailing slash
i've updated my htaccess file and my rewrites are getting this accomplished:
for example this:
http://ikonltd.com/current/
and this:
http://ikonltd.com/current
both go to the same page
here's my rewrite rule for that:
RewriteRule ^/current/([^\/\.]+)/?$ /current/index.cfm?PageNum
works great.
for some reason my rewrite for this URL is different:
http://ikonltd.com/new/
and this:
http://ikonltd.com/new
does not work.
here's my rewrite for that:
RewriteRule ^/new/([^\/\.]+)/?$ /newaq/index.cfm?PageNum_n
RewriteRule ^/new/(.*) /newaq/$1 [QSA]
it has something to do with this last bit:
RewriteRule ^/new/(.*) /newaq/$1 [QSA] (which i'm not using anywhere else in my htaccess - just for the newaq section.
you'd think if i deleted it and just used this:
RewriteRule ^/new/([^\/\.]+)/?$ /newaq/index.cfm?PageNum_n
it'd work but it does not.
again - i need both of these urls to resolve to the same page:
http://ikonltd.com/new/
http://ikonltd.com/new
i've updated my htaccess file and my rewrites are getting this accomplished:
for example this:
http://ikonltd.com/current/
and this:
http://ikonltd.com/current
both go to the same page
here's my rewrite rule for that:
RewriteRule ^/current/([^\/\.]+)/?$ /current/index.cfm?PageNum
works great.
for some reason my rewrite for this URL is different:
http://ikonltd.com/new/
and this:
http://ikonltd.com/new
does not work.
here's my rewrite for that:
RewriteRule ^/new/([^\/\.]+)/?$ /newaq/index.cfm?PageNum_n
RewriteRule ^/new/(.*) /newaq/$1 [QSA]
it has something to do with this last bit:
RewriteRule ^/new/(.*) /newaq/$1 [QSA] (which i'm not using anywhere else in my htaccess - just for the newaq section.
you'd think if i deleted it and just used this:
RewriteRule ^/new/([^\/\.]+)/?$ /newaq/index.cfm?PageNum_n
it'd work but it does not.
again - i need both of these urls to resolve to the same page:
http://ikonltd.com/new/
http://ikonltd.com/new
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The (.*) translates to "0 more more occurrences of any character". So, "/new/" will match that rule. As long as that rule comes after your optional trailing slash rule, it should still work as advertised. If you need it to be first, though, modify it like this:
As a side note, you are escaping characters inside the character set notation (i.e,. [^\/\.]). That is unnecessary, except for non-printable characters (e.g., \n), and the backslash character itself. It should not affect how the rule is implemented - just a minor technical note.
RewriteRule ^/new/(.+)$ /newaq/$1 [QSA]
As a side note, you are escaping characters inside the character set notation (i.e,. [^\/\.]). That is unnecessary, except for non-printable characters (e.g., \n), and the backslash character itself. It should not affect how the rule is implemented - just a minor technical note.
"my client has requested that a URL work regardless of whether or not there is a trailing slash"
That is a bit of a problem.
A URL without a trailing slash has a different meaning. Without a trailing slash, the URL denotes a specific resource (a web page or script) something like http://example.com/index.html
When you have a trailing slash you are telling the web server to look for a directory, something like this (in the directory the server will try to find index.html or a similar index script):
http://example.com/images/
So what do you want to do if the client types this URL? Should it try to run a script named images or locate the index of the images/ directory?
http://example.com/images
If you are convinced that the site you noted above has things just the way you want them, you might use this page and ask for a copy of their .htaccess file:
http://ikonltd.com/contact/
I do a somewhat similar thing on some of my sites, but all I do is look for a missing ".php" suffix. If it's not there, and I get a 404, I try the URL with PHP appended. So you might come to the site looking for "/results?game=5" and the server would locate "/results.php?game=5"
HTH, ~Ray
That is a bit of a problem.
A URL without a trailing slash has a different meaning. Without a trailing slash, the URL denotes a specific resource (a web page or script) something like http://example.com/index.html
When you have a trailing slash you are telling the web server to look for a directory, something like this (in the directory the server will try to find index.html or a similar index script):
http://example.com/images/
So what do you want to do if the client types this URL? Should it try to run a script named images or locate the index of the images/ directory?
http://example.com/images
If you are convinced that the site you noted above has things just the way you want them, you might use this page and ask for a copy of their .htaccess file:
http://ikonltd.com/contact/
I do a somewhat similar thing on some of my sites, but all I do is look for a missing ".php" suffix. If it's not there, and I get a 404, I try the URL with PHP appended. So you might come to the site looking for "/results?game=5" and the server would locate "/results.php?game=5"
HTH, ~Ray
<?php // /404handler.php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
if (isset($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]))
{
// IF A PHP SCRIPT IS NOT FOUND GO TO THE HOME PAGE OR SITE MAP
if (preg_match('#\.php#i', $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]))
{
header('Location: /');
exit;
}
// IF A NON-PHP SCRIPT IS NOT FOUND, TRY IT WITH PHP
$arr = explode('?', $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]);
$arr[0] .= '.php';
$uri = implode('?', $arr);
header("Location: $uri");
exit;
}
// IF NO REQUEST URI
header('Location: /');
exit;
and this:
http://ikonltd.com/new
does not work.
Do you have:
DirectorySlash Off
Somewhere in the location?
If so, try doing
DirectorySlash On
http://ikonltd.com/new
does not work.
Do you have:
DirectorySlash Off
Somewhere in the location?
If so, try doing
DirectorySlash On
I definitely want the option to to go with or without the directory slash.
I'm not sure what "some-handler" is in this though:
RewriteRule ^/new/(.+?)/(.+?)/([^\/\.]
RewriteRule ^/new/(.+?)/([^\/\.]+)/?$ /newaq/popup.cfm?AutoArtID
RewriteRule ^/new/([^\/\.]+)/?$ /newaq/index.cfm?PageNum_n
RewriteRule ^/new/(.*)$ /newaq/$1 [QSA]
<Location /newaq/idex.cfm>
DirectorySlash Off
SetHandler some-handler
</Location>
I'm not sure what "some-handler" is in this though:
RewriteRule ^/new/(.+?)/(.+?)/([^\/\.]
RewriteRule ^/new/(.+?)/([^\/\.]+)/?$ /newaq/popup.cfm?AutoArtID
RewriteRule ^/new/([^\/\.]+)/?$ /newaq/index.cfm?PageNum_n
RewriteRule ^/new/(.*)$ /newaq/$1 [QSA]
<Location /newaq/idex.cfm>
DirectorySlash Off
SetHandler some-handler
</Location>
i managed to create a scenario where in new and new/ both resolve to the correct page - i just created an actual new directory on the server.
now, i need to adjust my .htaccess file so
http://ikonltd.com/new-editions (no trailing slash)
resolves to the same page as
http://ikonltd.com/new-editions/ (trailing slash)
currently i just get a page not found when attempting to go to
http://ikonltd.com/new-editions (no trailing slash)
my .htaccess code thus far:
RewriteRule ^/new-editions/(.+?)/(.+?)
RewriteRule ^/new-editions/(.+?)/([^\/
RewriteRule ^/new-editions/ /new/index-edition.cfm [QSA]
now, i need to adjust my .htaccess file so
http://ikonltd.com/new-editions (no trailing slash)
resolves to the same page as
http://ikonltd.com/new-editions/ (trailing slash)
currently i just get a page not found when attempting to go to
http://ikonltd.com/new-editions (no trailing slash)
my .htaccess code thus far:
RewriteRule ^/new-editions/(.+?)/(.+?)
RewriteRule ^/new-editions/(.+?)/([^\/
RewriteRule ^/new-editions/ /new/index-edition.cfm [QSA]
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