lucy24 - 5:30 am on Dec 13, 2012 (gmt 0)

Urk. I first pictured a single set of fifty pipe-separated options. That's definitely getting into php-script territory.

UNLESS--
:: insert boilerplate about yawn-provoking coincidence because I've just finished saying something similar in another thread ::
--unless many of your good names have elements in common, so it's really ^index\.php/goodname(\d+)$ or ^index\.php/goodname(foo|bar|sludge)$ redirected to goodname$1.

a static copy that will bypass the database entirely

I missed a step here. What database? The one that was originally involved in generating the pages?

I'm not sure you need the rewrite. Why not rename all the old non-cache versions-- assuming you need to keep them on the server at all-- and let the new static versions have the filename that you've just finished redirecting to?