Nginx try_files instead of IFs to accomplish conditional logic

Question

I'm trying to create Nginx vhost configs that will include the equivalent of the Apache htaccess rewrite rules for OpenCart. Here is the orignal:

RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !.*\.(ico|gif|jpg|jpeg|png|js|css)
RewriteRule ^([^?]*) index.php?_route_=$1 [L,QSA]

As I understand it, this says that if the request is not a file, and it is not a directory, and does not contain a file with one of the above extensions, then rewrite according to the last line.

Here is what I am currently using in Nginx:

  location / {
    # This try_files directive is used to enable SEO-friendly URLs for OpenCart
    try_files $uri @opencart;
  }

  location @opencart {
    rewrite ^/(.+)$ /index.php?_route_=$1 last;
  }

This seems to work but I'm concerned that the check for those certain files is not there. Nothing I've been able to find suggests a way to duplicate that condition without using IFs. I'm also uncertain as to the reason for this part of the conditions, i.e. why those particular files matter.

My questions are:

Is there a way to do this, i.e. write an Nginx equivalent to the condition concerning those file types without using IFs?
Should the first location block of my Nginx example be changed to try_files $uri $uri/ @opencart; (adding the $uri/)

Thanks for any help.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 02 '15 at 19:32

2

The purpose of that particular RewriteCond is to prevent requests for nonexistent static files being passed in to OpenCart.

You can do this with another location. For instance (off the top of my head, so it may need tweaking):

location ~ \.(ico|gif|jpg|jpeg|png|js|css)$ {
    try_files $uri =404;
}

answered Jun 02 '15 at 19:32

Michael Hampton

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What you say makes sense, thanks, however how does the original line accomplish this since it seems to exclude those files from the condition (uses "!")? Also, should I be using "try_files $uri $uri/ @opencart; " in the first location, i.e. adding the $uri/ to mimic the "RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d" or does the line do that as is? Thanks gain. – David Rahrer Jun 03 '15 at 04:20
After finding out the reason for the line from another source, I was able to use Michael Hampton's solution for an nginx version of the rewrite. The purpose of the line is to avoid the load caused by sending requests for missing resource files to Open Cart for it to generate it's own 404 page. This way, those requests display the basic nginx 404. Also, the answer to the second of my questions is yes, add the $uri/ to the location block. Thanks! – David Rahrer Jun 06 '15 at 15:19

Nginx try_files instead of IFs to accomplish conditional logic

1 Answers1