jd01 - 3:44 am on Oct 6, 2009 (gmt 0)

Actually, Jim I think we were posting / editing at the same time...
ADDED: Yep, we were.

I posted a different variation of the code above, because I copied / pasted incorrectly before.
My apologies to you and the OP for the confusion.

I do check THE_REQUEST to see if it contains .php which it should not at any time on any of my sites, except in my own personal test directory.

Again, my apologies for posting the wrong code...
I opened the wrong (it's old + not working) .htaccess file for the answer.