A URL rewrite engine is software that modifies a web URL's appearance (URL rewriting). Rewritten URLs are used to provide shorter and more relevant-looking links to web pages, to route users from obsolete URLs to replacements, or to simplify the format of the URL for human readability. The technique adds a degree of separation between the files used to generate a web page and the URL that is presented to the world.
A URL rewrite engine, part of a web server's URL-to-filename mapping engines, is software that modifies a web URL's appearance (URL rewriting). Rewritten URLs (sometimes known as short, fancy URLs, or search engine friendly - SEF) are used to provide shorter and more relevant-looking links to web pages, to route users from obsolete URLs to replacements, or to simplify the format of the URL for human readability. The technique adds a degree of separation between the files used to generate a web page and the URL that is presented to the world. It is integral in frameworks that route all URI requests through a routing script or a controller.
Useful links
- mod-rewrite and its tag-wiki for some examples regarding the most widely-used implementation for the Apache web server.
- tuckey-urlrewrite-filter and its tag-wiki for an implementation for java/j2EE technology.
