.htaccess is empty file, but my url still got rewrite, how come?

[feelexit]

this is my .htaccess file

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /newtheme
#RewriteRule ^member/([a-zA-Z0-9]+)$ /member/list.php?uid=$1&type=index [L]

only 3 lines and last one is comment out,

my url is : [localhost...]
if i use [localhost...] page still showed up ,the only problem is querystring seems like got lost.

.htaccess file is empty and theres no rule to rewrite url, home come rewrited url still works?

besides, .htaccess file, what other files controled url rewrite?

[jdMorgan]

mod_rewrite, mod_alias, mod_dir, mod_negotiation, mod_proxy, mod_userdir, the DirectoryIndex directive and --on Apache 2.x-- the AcceptPathInfo directive.

Also, you must completely flush your browser cache before testing any change to your configuration files (httpd.conf, conf.d, or .htaccess).

Jim