unpredictable directory depth mod_rewrite

[devknob]

I am not even sure if this is possible.

I have a gigantic site where about 20,000 of the pages are handled by 1 processing file. It displays different template pages in the body depending on whether it is on the initial page (site.com/initial/) or sub page (this is the tricky one, explained later) and a product page.

 

Heres the deal, each product has the potential to be on several sub pages. Currently they are determined by a string in the db.

 

The identifiers for the initial page and the product page are standard, so a url will always begin with ?main=whatever and it will not always end in a product page, but the product is always &number=

 

All the sub-category page identifiers do not matter. I currently have them setup as the alphabet. Here are some examples.

 

site.com/main=Parts&a=Ship-Parts&number={whatev product}

site.com/main=Parts&a=Ship-Parts&b=Masts&number={whatev product}

site.com/main=Parts&a=Ship-Parts&b=Masts&c=Blue-Masts&number={whatev product}

 

The only way I see this being possible currently is to constantly check the last _GET against all 20,000 products. Either that, or write this whole deal a different way.

 

Is there a path to mod_rewrite this the way I currently have it setup?