Nginx specify regex for searching in file names

Question

How can I specify in my conf file so that

given request: /find/{xyz}

nginx would search for and serve file with name: some_arbitrary_prefix.{xyz}.html where some_arbitrary_prefix might be any random string before dot?

EDIT: I don't understand, why regex tag was deleted from question? In other words, I guess what I'm asking is: can one use regex to filter target files rather than locations?

If you are asking Nginx to guess the filename - then that is not possible. — Richard Smith, Mar 03 '21 at 11:44
Not guess, but filter filenames by regex and serve first one that matches? Anyway, I got your point, thanks — Twice_Twice, Mar 03 '21 at 11:46
There are language extensions such as lua and Perl that may be able to do it, but I don't know for sure. — Richard Smith, Mar 03 '21 at 13:00

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 03 '21 at 11:32

2

You can use a regular expression with location to extract the part of the URI following /find/, and then use try_files to construct the path to the filename.

For example:

location ~ ^/find/(.*)$ {
    root /path/to/folder;
    try_files /someprefix.$1.html =404;
}

answered Mar 03 '21 at 11:32

Richard Smith

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Sorry, I failed to mention that `someprefix` can be anything (edited my question) and unknowable. Can I use something like `try_files /(.*).$1.html =404` in config? – Twice_Twice Mar 03 '21 at 11:40

Nginx specify regex for searching in file names

1 Answers1