URL rewriting is a common function of HTTP servers. However, the rules and configuration differ widely between them. Below are some common approaches across a variety of popular web servers available at the time of writing.
All examples that follow use mod_rewrite, an official module that comes bundled with Apache. To use it, mod_rewrite must either be included at compile time or enabled as a Dynamic Shared Object (DSO). Please consult the Apache documentation for your version for more information.
Here is a very basic virtual host definition. These rules direct all requests
to index.php
, except when a matching file is found under
the document_root.
<VirtualHost my.domain.com:80> ServerName my.domain.com DocumentRoot /path/to/server/root/my.domain.com/public RewriteEngine off <Location /> RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -s [OR] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L] RewriteRule ^.*$ /index.php [NC,L] </Location> </VirtualHost>
Note the slash ("/") prefixing index.php
; the rules for
.htaccess
differ in this regard.
Below is a sample .htaccess
file that utilizes
mod_rewrite. It is similar to the virtual host
configuration, except that it specifies only the rewrite rules, and the leading
slash is omitted from index.php
.
RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -s [OR] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L] RewriteRule ^.*$ index.php [NC,L]
There are many ways to configure mod_rewrite; if you would like more information, see Jayson Minard's Blueprint for PHP Applications: Bootstrapping.
As of version 7.0, IIS now ships with a standard rewrite engine. You may use the following configuration to create the appropriate rewrite rules.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <configuration> <system.webServer> <rewrite> <rules> <rule name="Imported Rule 1" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="^.*$" /> <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAny"> <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" pattern="" ignoreCase="false" /> <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" pattern="" ignoreCase="false" /> </conditions> <action type="None" /> </rule> <rule name="Imported Rule 2" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="^.*$" /> <action type="Rewrite" url="index.php" /> </rule> </rules> </rewrite> </system.webServer> </configuration>