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What's the syntax difference between
RewriteRule help help.php?q=noslash [L] #1
RewriteRule /help help.php?q=withslash [L] #2
If I hit http://localhost/help, it goes to #1, if I hit http://localhost//help it still goes to #1.
Am I right in saying the leading slash in the first argument to RewriteRule is essentially ignored?
Also, why doesn't this rewrite rule work?
RewriteRule help /help.php [L] #1
Putting a leading slash in front of the second arg actually creates a 500 error for the server. Why?
I should note I'm using a .htaccess file to write these rules in
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RewriteRule specifies the directive. pattern is a regular expression that matches the desired string from the URL, which is what the viewer types in the browser. substitution is the path to the actual URL, i.e. the path of the file Apache servers. flags are optional parameters that can modify how the rule works.
In your rewrite, the ^ signifies the start of the string, the (. *) says to match anything, and the $ signifies the end of the string. So, basically, it's saying grab everything from the start to the end of the string and assign that value to $1.
NC|nocase. Use of the [NC] flag causes the RewriteRule to be matched in a case-insensitive manner. That is, it doesn't care whether letters appear as upper-case or lower-case in the matched URI.
mod_rewrite provides a flexible and powerful way to manipulate URLs using an unlimited number of rules. Each rule can have an unlimited number of attached rule conditions, to allow you to rewrite URL based on server variables, environment variables, HTTP headers, or time stamps.
Strangely enough,
RewriteRule ^/help help.php?q=2 [L]
The above rule fails and never matches.
This rule:
RewriteRule ^help help.php?q=1 [L]
Matches http://localhost/help, http://localhost//help and http://localhost///help
It appears RewriteRule never sees leading slashes of the path, and as TheCoolah said they are collapsed (to 0.. when using a .htaccess file anyway) no matter how many there are.
For the second part of the question,
RewriteRule ^help /help.php
I'm getting the answer from Definitive Guide to Apache Mod_rewrite
... a rewrite target that does not begin with http:// or another protocol designator is assumed to be a file system path. File paths that do not begin with a slash are interpreted as being relative to the directory in which the rewriting is taking place.
So /help.php looks in the root of the system for a file called help.php, which on my system it cannot find.
To make /help.php appear as a relative URL (relative to the root of the site) you can use the [PT] directive:
RewriteRule ^/help /help.php [PT]
That directs http://localhost/help to http://localhost/help.php.
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