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mod_rewrite to corresponding php files in subdirectory

I’d like to use mod_rewrite (in .htaccess) to map “clean” URLs to their corresponding php files in a subdirectory, for example:

https://example.com/test/
-->
https://example.com/p/test.php

My first step was to add trailing slashes to all URLs that lack one:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(.*)/$
RewriteRule ^(.*[^/])$ $1/ [L,R=301]

Then I added the following lines to make sure the path/file doesn’t exist already:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

And finally the RewriteRule that maps the requested path to the corresponding file in the subdirectory /p/:

RewriteRule ^(.+)$ /p/$1.php

This seems to work fine—unless I’m requesting a URL that doesn’t exist. Then the operation will result in an endless loop such as:

https://example.com/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/p/test/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/.php/

I’ve already tried adding another RewriteCond right before the RewriteRule to ensure the requested file actually exists in the subfolder /p/, but my approach doesn’t work:

RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/p/$1.php -f

Can anyone please tell me what I’ve been doing wrong?

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2

Answers


  1. Chosen as BEST ANSWER
    0

    In case anyone needs this: I’ve built upon MrWhite’s solution and added another RewriteRule that should prevent direct access to any .php files, including the ones in the /p/ subdirectory. Otherwise users would be able to access the same file under the “clean” URL and its direct path.

    The complete code looks like this:

    RewriteEngine on

# Append trailing slash (if omitted)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.+[^/])$ /$1/ [R=301,L]

# Rewrite "/test/" to "/p/test.php" if it exists
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/p/$1.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.+)/$ p/$1.php [L,END]

# Prevent direct access to php files
RewriteRule .php - [R=404]

    (I had to slightly change the original code to prevent infinite looping. That’s why I added the END flag to the second RewriteRule.)


  2. 0

    I’ve already tried adding another RewriteCond right before the RewriteRule to ensure the requested file actually exists in the subfolder /p/, but my approach doesn’t work:

    Yes, you will need to do that… check that the file you intend to rewrite to actually exists, rather than rewriting anything that simply doesn’t exist (which will result in a rewrite loop if the target also does not exist). However, your "problem" is that your URLs end in a trailing slash and you don’t appear to be accounting for this in your rule. So, given a request for /test/ you are effectively trying to test for %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/p/test/.php, which naturally does not exist.

    You need to exclude the trailing slash in the capturing subpattern in the RewriteRule pattern. For example:

    # Rewrite "/test/" to "/p/test.php" if it exists
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/p/$1.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.+)/$ p/$1.php [L]

    There’s no need for the additional filesystem checks (and overhead) to check that the request does not map to a file or directory – since these should be mutually exclusive events. (If you did happen to have a directory of the same name then the corresponding .php file would otherwise not be accessible.)

    Your complete file then becomes:

    RewriteEngine on

# Append trailing slash (if omitted)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.+[^/])$ /$1/ [R=301,L]

# Rewrite "/test/" to "/p/test.php" if it exists
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/p/$1.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.+)/$ p/$1.php [L]

    Note that there is no need for the second condition in the rule that appends the trailing slash to test that the requested URL does not end in a trailing slash, since this is already handled by the RewriteRule pattern (the pattern simply would not match if there was a trailing slash).

    And no need for the RewriteBase directive here. On the external redirect it is better to be explicit and include the slash prefix on the substitution string.

    Aside:

    My first step was to add trailing slashes to all URLs that lack one:

    Just to clarify, all your internal links must have already been updated to include the trailing slash, otherwise your users (and search engines) will be unnecessarily redirected all the time.

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