Review URL-prettifying .htaccess file

Question

Can anyone please review the following .htaccess file and let me if it is correctly put together?

What I think it does:

• So it direct to a custom 404 page
• Remove the extensions from the end of the urls (example .php)
• Remove /index
• I don't really understand what the final rule does, can anyone please explain it if could?

DirectoryIndex index.html index.php 
ErrorDocument 404 /404 
RewriteEngine On 
RewriteBase / 
# Remove enter code here.php; use THE_REQUEST to prevent infinite loops 
# By puting the L-flag here, the request gets redirected immediately 
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET\ (.*)\.php\ HTTP 
RewriteRule (.*)\.php$ 1ドル [R=301,L] 
# Remove /index 
# By puting the L-flag here, the request gets redirected immediately 
# The trailing slash is removed in a next request, so be efficient and dont put it on there at all 
RewriteRule (.*)/index$ 1ドル [R=301,L] 
# Remove slash if not directory 
# By puting the L-flag here, the request gets redirected immediately 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /$ 
RewriteRule (.*)/ 1ドル [R=301,L] 
# Add .php to access file, but don't redirect 
# On some hosts RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f will be true, even if 
# no such file exists. Be safe and add an extra condition 
# There is no point in escaping a dot in a string 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(/|\.php)$ 
RewriteRule (.*) 1ドル.php [L]

• Ryan Stone: in order for your custom error page to be directed properly you need to put a URL after it and remove the duplicate 404 ie ErrorDocument 404 https://www.youdomain.something/errorpage.php

Answer 1

This is basically a canonicalizing URL prettifier that redirects clients to a shorter URL.

The RewriteCond operating on %{THE_REQUEST} is weird, since it works directly at the HTTP protocol level. I understand that you want to avoid redirecting POSTs, since a redirect would convert POSTs into GETs, and such breakage would be an unacceptable consequence for having nicer-looking URLs. However, it would be better to test %{REQUEST_METHOD} instead.

In the worst case, you could end up redirecting the client three times:

1. GET /path/to/directory/index.php/:
2. GET /path/to/something/index.php
3. GET /path/to/something/index
4. GET /path/to/something

By combining the first two rules, you could eliminate the third request.

# Strip off /index.php or /index or .php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} =GET
RewriteRule (.*)(/index\.php|/index|\.php)$ 1ドル [R=301,L]

In the trailing slash cleanup, you have a superfluous RewriteCond:

# Remove slash if not directory 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d 
RewriteRule (.*)/$ 1ドル [R=301,L]

I would tweak your last rule a bit. Do the string analysis check before the filesystem check. Use 0ドル instead of %{REQUEST_URI} and 1ドル.

RewriteCond 0ドル !(/|\.php)$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f 
RewriteRule .* 0ドル.php

• Leo: Can you please show me how it would look like all put together? I have tried to put them together but I am confused - I really don't know what I am doing