htaccess rewrite pass two variables or one depending if both are available?

Question

I want to pass first directory as a variable and subdirectory as another variable.

It works when for urls with both directories (/something/something2) but I get an error 404 when I try with only one (/something).

RewriteRule ([^/]+)/([^/]+) /posts/?category2=$1&category2=$2 [L,QSA]

How can I pass only category1 when category2 isn't available?

Answer 1

Few solutions:

Multiple rules (easier to understand but a bit slower):

RewriteRule ^([^/]+) /posts/?category2=$1 [L,QSA]
RewriteRule ^([^/]+)/([^/]+) /posts/?category2=$1&category2=$2 [L,QSA]

Single rule:

RewriteRule ^([^/]+)(/([^/]+))? /posts/?category2=$1&category2=$3 [L,QSA]

Here the second part of URL (/something2) is optional. Please note -- $2 was changed to $3.

Answer 2

Maybe try this one:

RewriteRule ([^/]+)(/([^/]+))? /posts/?category2=$1&category2=$3 [L,QSA]