Using 301 redirect (.htaccess) or a different solution to not change the url

Question

I changed some URLs on my website, so now I need to redirect the old URLs (due to external links) to the new ones.

I tried to use something like this in my .htaccess file:

Redirect 301 /pt/oldpage https://www.example.com/pt/newpage

The redirect works (it opens the correct page), but the problem is that the URL of this page is changed to something like this:

https://www.example.com/pt/newpage?/pt/oldpage ~

Any idea of what is wrong?

My website uses the FrameWork CodeIgniter, if this is necessary.

This is my .htaccess file (With the solution!):

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^pt/oldpage$ https://www.example.com/pt/newpage? [R=302,L]
### WWW & HTTPS

# ensure www.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
RewriteRule ^ https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

# ensure https
RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Forwarded-Proto} !https
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

### WWW & HTTPS
RewriteCond $1 !^(index\.php|images|assets|recursos|support|robots\.txt|sitemap\.xml|sitemap\.html)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/[0-9]+\..+\.cpaneldcv$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/[A-F0-9]{32}\.txt(?:\ Comodo\ DCV)?$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?/$1 [L]

Redirect 301 /pt/oldpage https://www.example.com/pt/newpage
RewriteRule ^pt/oldpage$ /pt/newpage? [R=302,L]

Options -Indexes

<IfModule mod_expires.c>
  ExpiresActive on
  ExpiresByType image/jpg "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType image/gif "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType image/png "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType text/css "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType application/x-javascript "access plus 1 month"
  ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 month"
  ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"
  ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 month"
  ExpiresByType image/icon "access plus 1 month"
  ExpiresByType application/x-ico "access plus 1 month"
  ExpiresByType application/ico "access plus 1 month"
  ExpiresByType application/pdf "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType text/x-javascript "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access 1 month"
  ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access 1 year"
  ExpiresByType text/html "access 1 month"
  ExpiresDefault "access 1 month"
</IfModule>


##################################
#                                #
# Google Page speed optimizations#
#                                #
##################################

#Enable compression

<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
  # Compress HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Text, XML and fonts
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/javascript
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/rss+xml
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/vnd.ms-fontobject
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-opentype
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-otf
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-truetype
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-font-ttf
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xhtml+xml
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/opentype
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/otf
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE font/ttf
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/svg+xml
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE image/x-icon
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/javascript
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml

  # Remove browser bugs (only needed for really old browsers)
  BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4 gzip-only-text/html
  BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4\.0[678] no-gzip
  BrowserMatch \bMSIE !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html
  Header append Vary User-Agent
</IfModule>

MrWhite · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-24T18:45:08.443

1

Codeignitor uses mod_rewrite for it's front controller. You will need to use the same for your redirects, instead of using a mod_alias Redirect (which will execute unconditionally, resulting in some strange redirects - which I suspect is what's happening here).

So, before the existing directives, try something like the following instead:

RewriteRule ^pt/oldpage$ https://www.example.com/pt/newpage? [R=302,L]

The trailing ? on the substitution will remove any query string from the request (if that is required).

Change the 302 (temporary) to 301 (permanent) only when you are sure it's working OK - to avoid the browser caching erroneous redirects.

Make sure you clear your browser cache before testing.

edited Jul 24 '17 at 18:45

answered Jul 24 '17 at 16:58

MrWhite

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Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure if I did understand what was suposed to do, but I tried the following: - I replaced my code for the one you shared, nothing happened - I inserted your code before, and after my redirect, and i just got the same results as before – Daniel Almeida Jul 24 '17 at 17:30
2

It sounds like you did the right thing, but this should have done _something_. If you add your entire `.htaccess` file to your question we can take a look. – MrWhite Jul 24 '17 at 17:49
1

This code replaces the existing `Redirect` directive. Do not include the `Redirect` directive as well - that will only cause problems. However, it seems you've placed this redirect in the wrong place... this needs to go "before the existing directives". In fact, this should go immediately after the `RewriteEngine` directive at the top of the file. I've updated my answer (to include the full URL - advisable in this instance). – MrWhite Jul 24 '17 at 18:44

Using 301 redirect (.htaccess) or a different solution to not change the url

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