quick question regarding urls

[tomdelonge]

i'll make this quick. i'm hoping to have my site display the url like so:

 

website.com/aboutus/

 

rather than

website.com/aboutus.php

 

basically, i want the addresses to end in a slash and not have file extensions. i've seen this on many site, and i like it. i know how to do it a simple way. index.php is always displayed at the root, so i could just have a bunch of folders named "about us" and "contact us" and then have index.php files in all of those. however, that would be confusing; i'd probably end up with about 10 - 15 files named index.php. if worst comes to worst, i'll have to do it that way. any ideas on how to do that in a better fashion? thanks!

[DarkWater]

mod_rewrite

[tomdelonge]

that looks like exactly what i wanted. i'm reading up on it now. now for another question. since this is an apache configuration, do most hosting plans allow access to that? i've never had a server, so i don't know. i'm talking not "dedicated" hosting.

[DarkWater]

Yes, you just drop it in a file named ".htaccess" inside the folder.  Yes, the . is in the filename.

[tomdelonge]

Okay. I've been reading this article:

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/guide-url-rewriting/

 

Now, it says in this file: httpd.conf, to uncomment (remove the # signs) these lines:

#LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

#AddModule mod_rewrite.c

 

Then, in the same file, it says to put this:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>

RewriteEngine on

RewriteRule ^/shortcut$ /complicated/and/way/too/long/url/here

</IfModule>

 

Which folder does the ".htaccess" file go? does it go in each folder in the directory structure? And what goes in that file?

 

[DarkWater]

You don't need to do that stuff in httpd.conf EXCEPT for the first two lines where you uncomment them.  Because you do the rewrites in .htaccess, which is basically a per-directory httpd.conf.  So just put .htaccess in your web root directory and try something like:

 

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [NC,OR] 

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d [NC] 

RewriteRule .* - [L] 

RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9\-_]+)$ $1.php

 

Try it.

[tomdelonge]

okay, i'm using "easyphp" on my computer for testing purposes. in the httpd.conf file, there's only the "load module" line so i can only uncomment that one. is the "add module" line somewhere else? i can't find it. do i just need to do the one? i tried it, but maybe my example is wrong. in the .htaccess file, i wrote:

 

RewriteRule RewriteRule ^/index/ /index.php

 

i'm just trying to make:

localhost/index/

 

go to

localhost/index.php

 

did i perhaps write that part wrong? thanks.

[DarkWater]

Never heard of "easyphp". Are you on Linux or Windows?  Also, just uncomment the LoadModule line, it should work I think.  Then, in a .htaccess file, just put the stuff that I had EXACTLY as I had it and it'll rewrite any non-directory file that has no extension to the filename.php. >_< 

[tomdelonge]

i'm on windows. i put what you said, but what should happen? say i have a file called thisfile.php; should i be able to type in "localhost/thisfile/"? and have it go use that file? that doesn't work. i copied and pasted what you said in the htaccess.

[DarkWater]

Restart your server after uncommenting that line.

[tomdelonge]

still didn't work. let's break this down. i copied your code and i've uncommented what i was supposed to. what should happen?

 

shouldn't i just type "localhost/thisfile/"

and get whatever "localhost/thisfile.php" would have shown?

 

is that right?

[DarkWater]

Let me just test the rewrite rule that I gave on my server, hold on.

[DarkWater]

Okay, it works for me as long as I don't have a directory of the same name.

[tomdelonge]

maybe it's a different problem. most likely i screwed something simple up.

 

i have a folder called www, which is the root, and "localhost" leads to that. i don't have any other folders or directories in that one. i have a file called thisfile.php, and a file called .htaccess

 

thisfile.php:

 

<?php

echo "hello";

?>

 

.htaccess:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [NC,OR]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d [NC]

RewriteRule .* - [L]

RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9\-_]+)$ $1.php

 

and i removed the comment on that one line in the conf file. did i put something in the wrong spot?

 

what should be the outcome of this code?

 

shouldn't i be able to type in "localhost/thisfile/" and have it say hello? (instead of 404 not found). i don't know...

[DarkWater]

Remove the trailing slash or change the .htaccess to:

 

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [NC,OR]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d [NC]

RewriteRule .* - [L]

RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9\-_]+)/?$ $1.php

[tomdelonge]

still doesn't work.