Replacing spaces with hyphones in .htaccess

[spacepoet]

Hello:

 

I'm doing m first mod_rewrite and it is mostly going well.

 

But, I have one issue I can't see to get right.

 

The products I'm entering in the database have spaces, and I want to replace them with hyphens in the .htaccess file to match what I have replaced in the PHP file. Otherwise, it is not working.

 

This is my PHP file:

			<?php

			$query  = "SELECT product_id,myTitle FROM myProducts ORDER BY myTitle ASC";
			$result = mysql_query($query);

			while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC))
			{				
			$product_id = stripslashes($row['product_id']);
			$myTitle = stripslashes($row['myTitle']);

			?>

			<li><a href="http://www.mywebsite.com/Promotional.Products-Promotional.Items/Promotional-Products/<?php echo $product_id ?>-<?php echo str_replace(" ", "-", $myTitle) ?>-<?php echo $full_state ?>-Promotional-Products.html" title="<?php echo $myTitle?> <?php echo "$full_state"; ?>"><?php echo $myTitle?></a></li>

		    <?php 
			} 
			?>

 

 

This is the part in the .htacces file where it "matches" the PHP file:

RewriteRule ^Promotional.Products-Promotional.Items/Promotional-Products/([0-9]+)-([a-zA-Z]+)-([a-zA-Z]+)-Promotional-Products.html$ Promotional.Products-Promotional.Items/Promotional-Products.php?product_id=$1&myTitle=$2&full_state=$3

(full_state is coming from a variable already on the page, BTW, and works fine)

 

I think I need to somehow tell the middle RegEx

([a-zA-Z]+)

to replace the spaces with hyphens.

 

Everything works great otherwise.

 

How can I do this?

 

[requinix]

mod_rewrite cannot do substitutions like that.

 

Technically it can, but it's absolutely ridiculous and should not be done.

[spacepoet]

Ok...thats a bummer ...

 

however, is there a way to do the "string_replace" on $MyTitlt when it comrs out of the database and not in the href link? that might fix my problem but i cant seem to figure it out.

[requinix]

You're already putting the ID number in the URL - you can identify the product precisely. Why does it matter if the name isn't exactly right?

[spacepoet]

Because the mod rewrite fails. i dont know why.

 

so, any idea about the question i just posted or should i try another area of this forum.

[requinix]

What is the URL that is failing?

[spacepoet]

This one:

<a href="http://www.mywebsite.com/Promotional.Products-Promotional.Items/Promotional-Products/<?php echo $product_id ?>-<?php echo str_replace(" ", "-", $myTitle) ?>-<?php echo $full_state ?>-Promotional-Products.html" title="<?php echo $myTitle?> <?php echo "$full_state"; ?>"><?php echo $myTitle?></a>

 

However, I believe I know how to fix it, but don't know how to revise the middle RegEx expression.

...-([a-zA-Z]+)-...

 

How do I add "replace spaces with hyphens" to that? I know that is the key to fixing this.

 

Sorry about all the posts, but this is driving me nuts until I figure it out.

 

Thanks!

[requinix]

This one:

--Promotional-Products.html" title="">

That's not a URL. That's some HTML with a bit of PHP code sprinkled in.

 

What is the actual URL that is failing? The one that shows up in your browser's address bar.