How to change a url with htaccess

Question

i have this url:

 merchantstore.php?merchant=100&product=208

that i want to convert to:

/merchant-store-name/product-name 

where merchant-store-name replace ?merchant=100 and product-name replace &product=208

How do i do that in htacess file.

Answer 1

I'd suggest you to use a PHP-based approach. In the .htaccess:

RewriteRule (.*) switchboard.php?orig_uri=$1

This captures the entire requested uri, and kind of forwards it to a central switchboard. Then in the switchboard.php you have access to the requested uri, which you can explode() along '/' signs, then look up the id-s associated with the names in you database.

$components = explode('/', $_GET['orig_uri']);
list( $merchant_name, $product_name ) = $components;

// get merchant id and product id from your database

// and serve suitable content by include-ing:
include 'merchant.php';

This is a simple method, and rather easy to scale. It also has the added advantage that no mod-rewrite magic is required.

Don't forget to add proper error-handling.