lucy24 - 12:03 am on Feb 6, 2013 (gmt 0)

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^files/

THE_REQUEST is the full request string beginning with GET (or similar), space, directory-slash ... and then the part you've got.

This is the part where you kick yourself. Been there. Done that.

The condition will only be avaluated if the user asks for "index.php" by name. The rule itself will fail-- and the condition won't be evaluated at all-- if they ask for files/ alone. Unless files/ is a real, physical directory; if so, the Rule may kick in on the second pass, after mod_dir has done its thing. But you probably want (index\.php)?$ to be safe.