File and Directory Named the Same PHP

Question

I currently have these two pieces to my website.

localhost/FTS/papers - which is a php file
localhost/FTS/papers/ - which is a directory

What I am wanting to do is make it so that when I load:

localhost/FTS/papers -or-
localhost/FTS/papers/ -or-
localhost/FTS/papers.php

I want them all to go to the papers file.

Right now it is accessing the directory instead of the file which is not what I want.

Answer 1

Place this rule in your DOCUMENT_ROOT/.htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /FTS/

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/FTS/$1.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.+?)/?$ $1.php [L]