How to deny access to a file

Question

I want to deny access to the file via browser

like if someone try to access www.site1.com/log.txt

it should redirect him to www.site1.com/site.html

<Files log.txt>
    Order allow,deny
    Deny from all
Redirect http://site1.com/site.html
  </Files>

[How to deny access to a file in .htaccess](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11728976/how-to-deny-access-to-a-file-in-htaccess) — N'Bayramberdiyev, Jun 18 '19 at 08:56
i dont know who put minus on my question- ur reply doesn't have redirect to http if file trying to be accessed via web browser. read my question very well — Jack Pato, Jun 18 '19 at 12:47
If you tried something and it did not work, then you are supposed to show us what you tried. [How do I ask a good question?](https://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-ask) — N'Bayramberdiyev, Jun 18 '19 at 13:04
wat i tried is wat i posted maybe u never read my post clearly, and you never answered my question u just refereed me to bad answer — Jack Pato, Jun 18 '19 at 14:44

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 20 '19 at 12:10

You can do this using a simple redirection rule:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^/?log\.txt$ /site.html [R=301]

However this is questionable, it is an attempt to cure a sympton instead of fixing the cause. Ask yourself this question: why is that file located in exactly that part of the server side file system that you explicitly publish? Such internal files belong outside the area published by the http server.

Another approach, if you really cannot separate published and not published files, is to internally rewrite all requests to some routing script which allows for a lot of flexibility.

If you want to proceed with above approach then consider these additional hints:

It is a good idea to start out with a 302 temporary redirection and only change that to a 301 permanent redirection later, once you are certain everything is correctly set up. That prevents caching issues while trying things out...

This rule will work likewise in the http servers host configuration or inside a dynamic configuration file (".htaccess" file). Obviously the rewriting module needs to be loaded inside the http server and enabled in the http host. In case you use a dynamic configuration file you need to take care that it's interpretation is enabled at all in the host configuration and that it is located in the host's DOCUMENT_ROOT folder.

And a general remark: you should always prefer to place such rules in the http servers host configuration instead of using dynamic configuration files (".htaccess"). Those dynamic configuration files add complexity, are often a cause of unexpected behavior, hard to debug and they really slow down the http server. They are only provided as a last option for situations where you do not have access to the real http servers host configuration (read: really cheap service providers) or for applications insisting on writing their own rules (which is an obvious security nightmare).

How to deny access to a file

1 Answers1