Spaces in URL with Mod Rewrite

Server Config
1

I am currently rewriting

http://mysite.com/page/something

to http://mysite.com/page.php?foo=something

When I try http://mysite.com/page.php?foo=some thing
(note that there’s a space), it seems to work (converted to %20). However, when I try http://mysite.com/page/some thing, I get a 400 Bad Request Error, providing me the following message:

Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.

The request line contained invalid characters following the protocol string.

How can I make the server understand the space character through mod_rewrite? I really want to get space characters to work to allow my visitors (mostly kids) to directly enter a name without worrying about any special characters to type instead of spaces (plus signs or underscores, for example).

2

wei,

Gee, you STILL haven’t read the tutorial in my signature, have you. This very subject (spaces in the {REQUEST_URI} and how to get around them) is covered.

Moreover, you MUST know that a space is FORBIDDEN in a URL - PERIOD! Slide on over to w3.org for confirmation of that - that’s why your space is replaced by %20 (hex for the space character).

Now, have your visitors enter their desired URL in a textbox and convert it before submitting and you should be okay (when you get it back as a string) OR have mod_rewrite convert it for you (bad idea - PHP is much more efficient at character manipulation).

Regards,

DK

3

Sorry, I must have overlooked that while reading the article (I did read it though :slight_smile: ). Could you please direct me to the section that talks about this issue?

So, suppose I DO want spaces (being plain stupid and ignoring the fact that spaces are illegal in URLs) since I expect that visitors may directly type the URL. How would I prevent that 400 Error? It seems that there’s something with mod_rewrite that prevents the spaces, while directly entering the query string in the URL allows it. I just want to see how this works. I really appreciate all your help and apologize for asking about this so many times. :smiley:

4

wei,

It’s in the mod-rewrite Regex section where I have the code:

$state = str_replace ( ' ', '_', $state );
AND
$state = str_replace ( '_', ' ', $state );

The ban on spaces is enforced by all browsers as they will convert every space to %20 before sending the request via the http protocol.

You CAN access a space in mod_rewrite but ONLY within a character range definition by an escaped space, i.e., [\_] (where the _ is a space).

A query string created by a form will have replaced its spaces with +'s so, your regex could use code similar to the newly added section: Replace A Character:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^/?([^.]*)[\\ ]([^.]*)$ $1+$2 [N,L]
RewriteRule ^/?([^.]+)$ index.php?$1 [R=301,L]

Regards,

DK