Redirect 404 errors without rewriting the URL

Question

Is it possible to have an erroneous URL remain in the address bar while redirecting the user to a URL within my domain? I want www.domain.com/forum to be the actual site being served in all 404 circumstances but I don't want the referring URL to be rewritten (other than the domain portion, which is being done on the registrar level).

This is my current .htaccess

RewriteEngine On

RedirectMatch permanent ^/$ http://www.domain.com/forum/

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule .* http://www.domain.com/forum/ [L,R]

Do you actually mean an [`ErrorDocument`](http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/core.html#errordocument) directive? — Alvin Wong, Sep 02 '12 at 03:47

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 02 '12 at 03:59

1

You want to send 404 errors up to your application? Easy enough. You need to specify an existing file, though. For example:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /forum/index.php [L]

answered Sep 02 '12 at 03:59

Michael Hampton

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Doesn't that accomplish the same thing, as far as the URL bar is concerned? – Matthew S Sep 02 '12 at 04:04
@KnocksX It's not sending a redirect response, which is what changes the URL bar. – Shane Madden Sep 02 '12 at 04:20
I think I spoke too soon. This breaks the previous rule and the www is not always added anymore. The forum also loses all formatting and is loaded without css. – Matthew S Sep 02 '12 at 05:52

Redirect 404 errors without rewriting the URL

1 Answers1