URL mod-rewriting

Question

I want to mod_rewrite this Url:

Before:

website.altervista.org/page.php?name=value

After:

website.altervista.org/value

Answer 1

Solution:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !page.php$
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ /page.php?name=$1 [L]

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Explanation:

The mod_rewrite RewriteRule has 3 parameters:

1. Pattern
2. Substitution
3. Flags

Implemented as such:

RewriteRule pattern substitution [flags]

Starting at server root, enter the requested URL path in the RewriteRule "pattern" parameter, and the desired path in the "substitution" parameter. In this case:

RewriteRule ^(.+)$ /page.php?name=$1 [L]

If the URL varies and you don't want to (or can't) write a rule for every situation then use the regular expression ^(.+)$ to capture the dynamic value and inject it into your substituted path using the RE capture variable $1. The first set of parenthesis is $1, the second set is $2, etc. And capturing parenthesis can be nested.

^(.+)$ This regular expression can be read as: ^ at the start of the string, $ all the way to the end of the string, look for . any character + one or times and () capture that value into a variable.

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Problem:

Even though we have the flag [L] (last rule evaluated), the mod_rewrite engine (behind the scenes) sends the newly constructed request /page.php?name=somevalue back through the mod_rewrite engine until no rules are met or, apparently, there are no changes to the request. Fortunately there is a supplimentary directive to expand on the conditional power provided by the RewriteRule called RewriteCond.

The mod_rewrite RewriteCond applies to the next occurring RewriteRule and also has 3 parameters:

1. Test String
2. Conditional Pattern
3. Flags (optional)

The Test String can be derived from a few sources. Often a Server Variable, relating to the current request, is used here as the subject of this condition.

The Conditional Pattern is, again, text or a regular expression, but has some additional special conditions that may be evaluated. Read the Apache online mod_rewrite documentation for a detailed explanation.

In this case: RewriteRule ^(.+)$ /page.php?name=$1 [L], our newly substituted request is sent back through mod_rewrite as /page.php?name=somevalue and matches our "catch-all" rule, therefore our original "somevalue" is lost and replaced with our newly requested resource page.php. To prevent our "catch all" from catching our "page.php" requests let's exclude it from the rule using RewriteCond.

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !page.php$
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ /page.php?name=$1 [L]

This RewriteCond can be read as: %{REQUEST_URI} get the requested resource and does it ! NOT $ end with page.php. If this condition is true, continue to the next condition or rule. If this condition is not true, skip this rule set and continue to the next rule set.