Extensionless Files

Different Methods, Same Result

[polarbear]

Howdy,

I've been reading a lot about extensionless URLs and the different ways to accomplish them.

I want to use the following method with php:

• I save php files without any extension on my server (e.g. "foo", not "foo.php").

• I add "DefaultType application/x-httpd-php" to my .htaccess to make apache treat extensionless files like php-files.

• I also add the following code to my .htaccess to remove trailing slashes from URLs if they refer to extensionless files (but not directories):

  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}!-d
  RewriteRule ^(.+)/$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
  

Since I'm not much of an expert I'd like to ask if there's anything wrong with my approach. I have read jdMorgan's post [webmasterworld.com] that says:

The right way to do this is name the files as .php, and then rewrite the URLs that have no extension to those filenames using mod_rewrite.

I figured that my way would be slightly faster than a method including mod_rewrite. Am I missing anything here? Could I run into some unforseen trouble with this method?

Thanks!
-Harry

[jdMorgan]

If it works, it works...

Test it to be sure.

Jim

[spinnercee]

I'd be careful using DefaultType because in addition to extensionless files, it will also apply that content-type to extensions that are not specified in mime.types or via httpd.conf directives -- this could crash or at least slow your HTTPd by allowing PHP to attempt to parse/run files it has no way of handling.

Apache can run PHP files without extension wherever scripts/CGI can run as long as their first line is a declaration to the executable that loads them:

In Windows: #!C:/apps/php/php-4.3.11-Win32/php.exe -q

In *NIX: #!/usr/local/bin/php5/bin/php