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How to use htaccess to create pretty URLs?
Continuing our review of htaccess files, today we’ll examine how to use mod_rewrite to create pretty URLs. While some claim pretty URLs help in search engine rankings, the debate here is fierce, we can all agree that pretty URLs make things easier for our users and adds a level of professionalism and polish to any web application.
What’s the difference between htaccess and PHP URLs?
A quick overview before we dive into code, in today’s tutorial we will go over two slightly different methods of creating pretty URLs using HTACCESS. The difference between the methods is whether Apache or PHP is doing the heavy lifting to break the URL apart for parsing.
How to store a URL in a htaccess file?
First we need to include the database connection variables we created earlier, then we store the URL parameter sent to us by the create form in a variable called $url. Next we do some regular expressions magic to check if they actually sent a URL, if not we store an error.
Why do I need a.htaccess file in Apache?
The .htaccess file is one of the most powerful tools available on your Apache server (this only works on Apache, so Windows users must find their fun somewhere else). It allows you to provide a way to make configuration changes on a per-directory basis. In this tutorial, I want to go over how to make pretty URL’s using this file.
How can I redirect and rewrite my URLs with.htaccess file?
Using Redirect in an .htaccess file enables you to redirect users from an old page to a new page without having to keep the old page. For example, if you use index.html as your index file and then later rename index.html to home.html, you could set up a redirect to send users from index.html to home.html. For example: Redirect to a local site file
Where does the.htaccess file take effect?
The .htaccess file takes effect over the entire directory it is placed in, including all files and subdirectories. The changes made in this file will be implemented immediately and no server restart is required.
How to ignore existing files in htaccess file?
The first prevents existing directories with the !-d flag and the second with !-f means ignore existing files. The next three lines are the actual URL rewriting commands. Each line creates a rule that tries to match a regular expressions pattern against the incoming URL.
How to make a link Look Pretty in Apache?
In order to make this a pretty link, you have to: Change the link to a pretty link: . Use mod_rewrite on the server to handle the request to the URL /my/pretty/link using any one of the methods described above.
Is there such thing as a proper url?
If one thing’s for sure, there’s a ton of confusing information out there on proper URL structure. To be fair, it is a pretty multi-dimensional concept with a lot of working parts.
Why do pretty URLs help in search engine rankings?
While some claim pretty URLs help in search engine rankings, the debate here is fierce, we can all agree that pretty URLs make things easier for our users and adds a level of professionalism and polish to any web application. I could go over all the theoretical reasons for this, but I like real-world examples better.