Problem with [L]

**DoubleDee** · Apr 10, 2013 09:37

I am trying to re-organize my website, and while testing some changes to my mod_rewrites, am not getting the outcome I'd expect?!

In English, here is what I want...

If a user tries to go to the "Finance" section (pretty URL)...

http://local.debbie/finance/

...then I want them to be taken to a new "Finance Home Page", which would be this file...

http://local.debbie/finance/index.php

However, if a user navigates to any other section (e.g. Legal, Management, etc)...

http://local.debbie/legal/

http://local.debbie/management/

...then my original mod_rewrite should kick in, and they would be taken here...

http://local.debbie/articles/index.php?section=legal

http://local.debbie/articles/index.php?section=management

(BTW, what my original code is trying to do, is this... Take a look at the Section the user clicked on, and send that to the "template" file at "articles/index.php" which in turn populates the "template" with all articles from the database related to that Section.)

Does that make sense so far?

So here is how I modified my mod_rewrite, thinking it would work...

Code:

#PRETTY:		finance/
#UGLY:			articles/index.php?section=finance

#Rewrite only if the request is not pointing to a real file (e.g. add-comment.php, index.php).
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

#New Code looking just for "Finance" section...
RewriteRule ^/finance/$ finance/index.php [L]

#Match any kind of Section.  PHP will decide if it's valid or not.
RewriteRule (.+)/$ articles/index.php?section=$1 [L]

When I use that mod_rewrite, it is as if the new line I added doesn't exist. As such, when you go to...

http://local.debbie/finance/

...you are taken to a page which lists all Finance Articles (old way) versus my new "Finance Home Page" which is a new "index.php" file located in my new "finance" directory in the Web Root.

It appears my [L] switch thingy - or whatever it is called - is not working?!

Hope all of that makes sense?!

Sincerely,

Debbie

**cpradio** · Apr 10, 2013 10:06

Your match is likely incorrect, changes are the beginning slash should not be there. Try the following

Code:

RewriteRule ^finance/$ finance/index.php [L]

**cpradio** · Apr 10, 2013 10:19

Secondly, I don't know why you need that rewrite rule to begin with, you are performing an action Apache will do by default. Granted I guess you would need this rule if you are not applying any RewriteCond that tell it NOT to run the rule if there is a physical file or directory already established with that path.

Code:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

**DoubleDee** · Apr 10, 2013 10:55

Originally Posted by cpradio

Secondly, I don't know why you need that rewrite rule to begin with, you are performing an action Apache will do by default. Granted I guess you would need this rule if you are not applying any RewriteCond that tell it NOT to run the rule if there is a physical file or directory already established with that path.

Code:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

I took your two different approaches, and both seem to have fixed things.

Now can you help me understand why your code works?!

Approach #1:
For my original approach, why does this work...

Code:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^finance/$ finance/index.php [L]

...but this doesn't...

Code:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^/finance/$ finance/index.php [L]

Since "finance" is starting at the Web Root, I would think either would work?!

BTW, I originally had it like this...

Code:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule /finance/$ finance/index.php [L]

...to disallow URL's like this...

http://local.debbie/TEST/finance/

Approach #2:

Code:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

#Match any kind of Section.  PHP will decide if it's valid or not.
RewriteRule (.+)/$ articles/index.php?section=$1 [L]

Why is it that if I go to...

http://local.debbie/finance/

...then I am routed to...

http://local.debbie/finance/index.php

But if I go to, say....

http://local.debbie/legal/

...then I am routed to...

http://local.debbie/articles/index.phph?section=legal

I don't see how your code above distinguishes between these two URL's...

http://local.debbie/finance/

http://local.debbie/legal/

Sincerely,

Debbie

**cpradio** · Apr 10, 2013 11:05

Okay, for Approach #1

Apache 2 and later no longer includes the slash following the host name in the REQUEST_FILENAME (it may have never included it, but for some reason I believe this was a change in Apache 2). So since REQUEST_FILENAME does can NEVER contain a beginning slash, that is why your rules starting with a forward slash fail.

Now your second rule in Approach #1 "RewriteRule /finance/$ finance/index.php [L]" would likely work for "http://local.debbie/TEST/finance/" but would not work for "http://local.debbie/finance/". Why? Because of the starting slash. Changing it to "RewriteRule /?finance/$ finance/index.php [L]" would theoretically work as it makes the start slash optional, however it would also pick up "http://local.debbie/business-finance/".

Approach #2 works because there is no physical directory or file named legal/ or legal/index.php, since neither of those exists, it tries to match it against "RewriteRule (.+)/$ articles/index.php?section=$1 [L]", which is successful, as that is a catch-all rule.

finance/ and finance/index.php do have a physical directory/file, and thus do NOT pass the rewrite conditions that state the requested URL must not have a physical directory/file present on the web server, therefore they never attempt to run the rewrite rule.

**DoubleDee** · Apr 10, 2013 11:51

Originally Posted by cpradio

Approach #2 works because there is no physical directory or file named legal/ or legal/index.php, since neither of those exists, it tries to match it against "RewriteRule (.+)/$ articles/index.php?section=$1 [L]", which is successful, as that is a catch-all rule.

finance/ and finance/index.php do have a physical directory/file, and thus do NOT pass the rewrite conditions that state the requested URL must not have a physical directory/file present on the web server, therefore they never attempt to run the rewrite rule.

Getting really confused here...

I forgot that I just created a directory called "finance" and dropped a test "index.php" in it. So I can see why your 2nd code example works, however, I don't think this will work for what I am trying to do ultimately...

Rewind...

The way my website is currently coded (i.e. Apache mod_rewrites, PHP, etc) is that I have a Navigation Bar with several "Sections" in it.

A user clicks on something like "Finance" which goes to...

(Pretty URL) http://local.debbie/finance/
(Redirect) http://local.debbie/articles/index?section=finance

...and displays a listing of articles about Finance.

This works great, except that right before going live with v2.0, I realized that as I add content to my website, I am going to have more than just "Articles" in a given Section. (For example, maybe I want to have Graphs/Charts or Stock Quotes in my "Finance" section.)

So the only practical way to handle this - as I see it - is to create a "Landing Page" for each Section.

To further complicate things, each "Landing Page" will require different code, so having a "catch-all template" like I am using now to display the "Listing of Articles" won't work.

So originally I figured I would just create a new directory for each Section, and then I could create a unique "index.php" file, and be good to go.

However, I also wonder if there is a better way. (I'm not crazy about mucking up my Web Root with "shell" directories to solve this issue.)

And the code you just offered wouldn't work moving forward, because if I follow the approach just described, then I *would* have directories for "Finance", "Legal", "Management", etc and so if I wanted to have a Section *without* a "Landing Page" that went directly to a "Listing of Articles" using my current articles/index.php template, then things wouldn't work.

I think my bigger questions needs to be...

1.) Should I create directories for each Section of my website (i.e. maybe 10-15)?

2.) Depending on #1, how do I handle the need for a unique PHP file to create the various "Landing Pages"?

3.) How hard would it be to have some Sections go to a "Landing Page", but other Sections go directly to the "Listing of <Section> Articles" page for Sections that don't have enough material/content to justify creating a "Landing Page" in the beginning?

Lots of questions, I know?!

Anyways, that is what I am ultimately trying to do, and I'm not sure if this is more of a File System/Apache thing, or more of a Code/PHP thing?

Thanks,

Debbie

**cpradio** · Apr 10, 2013 15:24

My personal suggestion, don't create directories. Use your global catch all and handle these scenarios in your routing page. Detect that they requested a section and handle it accordingly. This gives you full control and you can still send some sections to one place, and others to another place without altering your htaccess.

**Jeff Mott** · Apr 10, 2013 16:40

Off Topic:

Originally Posted by cpradio

Apache 2 and later no longer includes the slash following the host name in the REQUEST_FILENAME (it may have never included it, but for some reason I believe this was a change in Apache 2). So since REQUEST_FILENAME does can NEVER contain a beginning slash, that is why your rules starting with a forward slash fail.

I could supply the references to clear this up, if you'd like.

Here's the Apache 2 reference documentation for mod_rewrite. Scroll to the end, to the two tables just before the comments. Those tables describe how rewrite rules behave when in a per-server context (where rules must match a leading slash) vs a per-directory context (where rules must not match a leading slash). Basically, when in a per-server context, rewrite rules match on the absolute path, which includes the initial slash. And when in a per-directory context, rewrite rules match on a relative path, relative to the directory in which the rules reside, which means no leading slash.

Then, you can also double check the Apache 1.3 reference documentation for mod_rewrite. Scroll most of the way down to find the same tables. The per-server and per-directory behavior was the same in Apache 1 as it is in Apache 2.

If you wanted to be certain beyond all doubt, you could download Apache 1.3 and try all the scenarios.

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