Скачать или смотреть Simplifying URL Structures with Apache mod_rewrite: How to Rewrite GET Variables

Discover how to transform your PHP URLs using `mod_rewrite` for cleaner and more user-friendly links. Learn step-by-step instructions to solve common issues related to GET variables.
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Simplifying URL Structures with Apache mod_rewrite

When developing web applications, it's crucial to have clean and user-friendly URLs. A common challenge developers face is rewriting URLs that contain GET variables. In this article, we will tackle a simple problem: transforming a query string URL (like product.php?a=12) into a cleaner format (like product12.php).

The Problem

You might have a PHP file that uses a GET variable for processing. For example:

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While this URL works for fetching the desired content, it's not very clean or memorable. Ideally, we want to rewrite it to look like this:

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This transformation improves user experience and makes the URL more aesthetically pleasing.

The Solution: Using mod_rewrite

To achieve this URL rewriting, we'll use Apache's mod_rewrite module, which provides powerful and flexible options for rewriting URLs. Here's a breakdown of the solution:

Step 1: Enable mod_rewrite

First, ensure that the mod_rewrite module is enabled in your Apache server. You can typically do this in your Apache configuration file or by running:

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Step 2: Configure the .htaccess File

Next, you need to create or edit the .htaccess file in your website's root directory. Add the following rewrite instructions:

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Explanation of the RewriteRule

RewriteEngine On: This command enables the mod_rewrite engine, allowing the rules to take effect.

RewriteRule: This defines the actual rule for rewriting:

^product(([0-9])+ ).php$: This pattern matches any URL starting with product, followed by one or more digits (i.e., the product ID), and ending with .php.

/product.php?a=$1: This part of the rule tells the server to internally redirect the request to product.php while passing the matched digits as the a GET variable. $1 represents the first captured group (the digits).

[QSA,NC,L]: Flags that indicate:

QSA: Appends any existing query string to the new URL.

NC: Makes the matching case-insensitive.

L: Indicates that this is the last rule, and no further rules should be processed if this one matches.

Testing the Rewrite

After updating the .htaccess file, you can test the new URL format in your browser:

Navigate to http://yourdomain.com/product12.php.

You should see that it now effectively pulls data from product.php?a=12 seamlessly.

Conclusion

Using mod_rewrite is a straightforward way to enhance the URLs of your web applications, making them cleaner and more user-friendly. By following the steps outlined above, you can easily rewrite your GET variable URLs to a format that is easier to manage and share.

Feel free to reach out if you have any further questions or run into issues while implementing these changes. Happy coding!