CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpapache.htaccessmod-rewritehttp-redirect
lukehillonline
lukehillonline

Reputation: 2647

Dynamic rewrites in htaccess file

I am working on some rewrites and redirects in my htaccess file. My reason for doing this is because I am developing a new design and layout for an existing website therefore I need to redirect to keep hold of the Google rankings etc.

So the old (existing) URL looks like this:

/news/internet-shopper-numbers-continue-to-grow-$21378232.htm

and the new URL will look like this:

/industry-news/small-business-website-design/internet-shopper-numbers-continue-to-grow/800715788

In the old URL internet-shopper-numbers-continue-to-grow is dynamically generated, where as in the new URL small-business-website-design, internet-shopper-numbers-continue-to-grow, and 800715788 are all dynamically generated.

So my issue is how do I get from 1 URL to another if only 1 of the dynamically generated variables is available.

I was thinking perhaps it would be a good idea to do a PHP redirect instead where I can get the data from the URL process through database to get all data needed to generate the new URL, but I'm not sure if this is good practice, this would also mean having to match the old URL file directory which is not the current case.

I'm guessing I start with something like this:

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond /news/%{QUERY_STRING}(.)(\\d+)(.)(htm)$
RewriteRule ^industry-news/(.+)/%1/(\d{9})

I know this is very basic and kinda wrong but I'm working on this for the first time and I'm stumped.

-- extra question --

am I able to do something like this?

RewriteCond /new/%{QUERY_STRING}(.)(\\d+).htm$
RewriteRule ^industry-new/article/article.php?direct=%1

I dont know how to go about testing these really, but would that work?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 260

Answers (1)

user187291
user187291

Reputation: 53940

Yes, it's definitely a good idea to do all redirection stuff in php. Just have a simple "catch-all" .htaccess 

RewriteCond  %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond  %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule  .* index.php

then transform urls as you want in php and send a location header when necessary. It might be a good idea to add 301 status code for "old" urls.

Upvotes: 1

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