mod_rewrite Help Please

[leony]

Hi,

I have got a problem and cannot find a solution.

 

I want to get rid of PHP extensions on my website (hosted by 1and1 - Apache servers)

 

A basic rule is as follows

 

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^phones /phones.php

 

But I get internal server error 500.

 

If the rule is as:

 

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^phones-nokia /phones.php

The rule works! Whenever the new URL name is different than the old page name, it works. (etc. ^cars /cars.php does not work but ^cars-honda /cars.php works)

 

Because I cannot find a solution in this problem, I cannot go ahead and write more complicated rules.

 

A test:

 

Created a page called write.php with only the following line:

<?php echo $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] ?> 

HTACCESS file is in: domain.com/.htaccess

 

Tried the following rule:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /write.php?$1 [L]

Normally whatever I type in domain.com/anything should display "anything". But I get 500 error.

 

So can someone please tell me what am I doing wrong?

 

Thanks.

[GingerRobot]

Checked your error log? Do you have the rewrite_module loaded?

[leony]

Checked your error log? Do you have the rewrite_module loaded?

 

I cannot check the error log because 1and1 does not allow. If the module is not loaded, how can this works:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^phones-nokia /phones.php

And I get error 500 for the following?

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^phones /phones.php

 

If you can explain what might be possible reasons, I will contact them and ask.

[GingerRobot]

I spose i could always try reading the post properly couldn't I?

 

Well, i'm not mod_rewrite expert, but i would imagine that the problem is your pattern is matched by phones.php so you have an infinite loop. I wonder if using the L flag would prevent that?

[jamieburchell]

Hi

 

I notice on your examples you are missing the end dollar. I am pretty sure this is your issue.

 

RewriteRule ^phones /phones.php

I would make:

RewriteRule ^phones$ /phones.php

or better:

RewriteRule ^phones/?$ /phones.php

 

I've not managed to get: RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /write.php?$1 [L] to work either. I have no idea why this is. I ended up having to use:

([a-zA-Z0-9-/]+) which did what I needed.

[leony]

Hi

 

I notice on your examples you are missing the end dollar. I am pretty sure this is your issue.

 

RewriteRule ^phones /phones.php ---not working on 1and1 but works on another server

I would make:

RewriteRule ^phones$ /phones.php---not working on 1and1 but works on another server

or better:

RewriteRule ^phones/?$ /phones.php---not working on 1and1 but works on another server

 

RewriteRule ^phones-1and1-sucks/?$ /phones.php---works on 1and1 and on another server!

 

I've not managed to get: RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /write.php?$1 [L] to work either. I have no idea why this is. I ended up having to use:

([a-zA-Z0-9-/]+) which did what I needed.

 

Is there any special mod_rewrite method for 1and1 that I am not aware of? I dont wanna waste my time asking them as they have no idea what they are doing.

[jamieburchell]

I doubt they will know. What version of Apache is running on your server vs the version that you have managed to get working.

 

I am running Apache 2.2.6 on Windows and basically all the problems are resolved by adding an end dollar for the string terminator.

 

I get:

 

RewriteRule ^register /register.php -- 500 server error

RewriteRule ^register /xregister.php -- rule works (sort of see below)

RewriteRule ^register$ /register.php -- rule works

 

You'll find without the end of string terminator all sorts of unexpected stuff happens like the url /registerxyz will still resolve to /xregister.php.