mod_rewrite simple tutorial

melkior_inactive · 03-26-2007 04:52 AM

Ok, mod rewrite is very good function of Apache Web Server.
The potential is enormous. As you might or might not know, I'm developing a link selling app for UK WW.
And we want the app to be SEO friendly.
So this is a potential use of mod rewrite.
It's also good if you want to hide the structure of your website, and the arguments that you pass to the script.

So what does it look like?
Well this is the basic idea:
you have a site called www.domain.com
and you have a script which passes the arguments.
So your url look like this:
www.domain.com/index.php?query=xxx&id=yyy

mod rewrite enables you to change that into:
www.domain.com/xxx/yyy/

First of all make sure that mod_rewrite is available on your server and turned on.
You can check that out by creating a file (let's call it phpinfo.php) with the following content:

PHP Code:


<? phpinfo(); ?>

Go to that page and search for mod_rewrite. If you find it you're good to go.
If not, contact your host.

OK, now create a .htaccess file with this content:

Code:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(.*)/(.*)/$ index.php?query=$1&id=$2 [L]

Upload the file to your server into the folder that contains the script.
Now, what this does is: when someone requests bla/bla/ on your server, it automatically gets transcribed to index.php?query=bla&id=bla
Cool, isn't it?

But maybe you want your site to look like this:
www.domain.com/xxx-yyy.html
No problem!
This is the setup for the .htaccess file:

Code:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(.*)-(.*).html$ index.php?q=$1&id=$2 [L]

So if you need index.php?query=bla&id=bla you can now access it like bla-bla.html

Now, all you need to do is update the links in your site and your site is SEO friendly and harder to hack.
Here's a little help with that. If you have static links you have no problems, but chances are that your script is generating the urls based on various conditions.
So here's the old code:

PHP Code:


<html>
<body>
...
...
<?
echo '<a href="$siteurl/index.php?query=type&id=$id">Link</a>';
?>

You'd change it to:

PHP Code:


<html>
<body>
...
...
<?
echo '<a href="$siteurl/type/$id/">Link</a>';
?>

for the first type of url rewrite.
Or:

PHP Code:


<html>
<body>
...
...
<?
echo '<a href="$siteurl/type-$id.html">Link</a>';
?>

for the second type.
Hope it helps.

**temi** · 03-26-2007 06:28 AM

Excellnet tutorial Melky

melkior_inactive · 03-26-2007 07:07 AM

Thanks Temi!
Hope our members will find it useful.
If anyone has questions don't be afraid to ask.

**Bagi Zoltán** · 03-26-2007 04:17 PM

Wow Melkior, I don't say that I would become a htaccess genius, but your tutorial do really helps a lot to understand this rewrite thing.
Rep added, thank you

melkior_inactive · 03-26-2007 05:58 PM

Bagi, I am more than pleased if you get anything useful from these ramblings!

I'll add a few more examples and suggestions tomorrow.

**Bagi Zoltán** · 03-26-2007 06:42 PM

That is very kind of you. I didn't understand this topic so far because i couldn't connect it with php, but you gave examples how to modify the php file also.

melkior_inactive · 04-09-2007 01:13 PM

I promised to add a few more explanations but never got back to do them.
Now, when I see how many linkbacks this thread has I think I'll try to explain a few more things.

In the first part of the tutorial I gave examples how to change your dynamic link structure too look like a directory structure or an HTML pages structure.

These are the two most common examples, but truth is you'll probably want a combination of these two.

So you want your www.domain.com/index.php?query=xxx&id=yyy to look like this:
www.domain.com/xxx/yyy.html

How do you achieve this?
Your .htaccess file should look like this:

Code:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(.*)/(.*).html$ index.php?query=$1&id=$2 [L]

And your links update in the PHP script should be something like:

PHP Code:


<html>

<body>

...

...

<?

echo '<a href="$siteurl/type/$id.html">Link</a>';

?>

This makes your site not only SEO friendly but human friendly too.

**lala** · 04-16-2007 10:04 AM

Melkior,

Better later than never:
Thank you so much for this marvellous post

Your knowledge on this is really impressive and I learned (again) a lot...

lala

**mrcrowley** · 04-16-2007 03:37 PM

Sorry for being a newb (I tried to figure it out myself before posting).
Where in your site might you find the php script which you enter the following code into?

I'm trying to implement this into this site... A2Z Sex Shop - His And Her Sex Toys, Dildos, Strapons, Dolls, Bondage kits

Thanx!

Originally Posted by melkior

And your links update in the PHP script should be something like:

PHP Code:


<html>
<body>
...
...
<?
echo '<a href="$siteurl/type/$id.html">Link</a>';
?>

This makes your site not only SEO friendly but human friendly too.

**temi** · 04-16-2007 07:55 PM

Jamie,
What application did you use to create your shop?

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