mod rewrite scenario

[whoo]

I have a rather complicated setup that for some reason I am interested in mucking up, so let's see if this can be done.

Currently I have the following *pertinent* mod_rewrite rules:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [S=35]
RewriteRule ^page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?&paged=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^comments/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?&paged=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^search/(.+)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?s=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^search/(.+)/?$ /index.php?s=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^archives/category/(.+)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?category_name=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^archives/category/(.+)/?$ /index.php?category_name=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^archives/author/([^/]+)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?author_name=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^archives/author/([^/]+)/?$ /index.php?author_name=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^archives/([0-9]{4})/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?year=$1&paged=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^archives/([0-9]{4})/?$ /index.php?year=$1 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^archives/([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&paged=$3 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^archives/([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^archives/([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3&paged=$4 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^archives/([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^archives/([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/([^/]+)/page/?([0-9]{1,})/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3&name=$4&paged=$5 [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^archives/([0-9]{4})/([0-9]{1,2})/([0-9]{1,2})/([^/]+)/?([0-9]+)?/?$ /index.php?year=$1&monthnum=$2&day=$3&name=$4&page=$5 [QSA,L]

what I have been experimenting with is reversing the chronological display of items. I can do this successfully but doing so requires appending a query to the end of the url, ie,

this is an actual example of something that works:

http://www.domain.com/archives/category/bleh/?order=asc

My first goal would be to add another rule so that I could continue to maintain my cruft free urls, sans,

http://www.domain.com/archives/category/bleh/asc

This alone is simple enough, I assume, but along with the other thing I have going, not so simple.

I have a clickable paged navigation system in place and given the above url, the subsequent navigation system that WAS producing cruftless uris now outputs:

http://www.domain.com/archives/category/bleh/?order=asc&paged=2

since the rewrite rules no longer match, obviously.

Additionally, the potential for this type of URI exists:

http://www.domain.com/archives/category/bleh/page/2/?order=asc

which would be the result of someone changing the order AFTER having used the paged navigation. (the opposite of the example above)

I guess my starter question is this:

Is there a simple mod_rewrite solution to rewriting the 2 potential query options, so that my paged navigation system doesnt break, and so that I can continue to maintain my cruft free urls?

I apologize if this is confusing. :) Ive tried my best to explain.

[jdMorgan]

Look very hard at the [QSA] flags on your existing rules. If a "static" or "friendly" URL is requested, is it really going to have a query string on it that you want to preserve after appending the new query info (the URL-path parameters to be passed to your script)?

After sorting all that, then it's simply a matter of making your rules recognize the (new) URLs defined by/on your pages and rewrite them properly to the script(s).

Also, be sure to completely flush your browser cache after any change to your rules. If a previously-cached URL is requested, your browser will serve it from cache, and no request will be sent to your server. In that case, your rewriterules cannot have any effect.

Jim

[whoo]

OK, so youre saying then that the QSA flags are what's causing the paged=1 problem that i illustrate?

If not, Im lost. I'll be honest and say that I havent had to mentally deal with these rules for upwards of 2 years and mod_rewrite isnt my strong suit.

[jdMorgan]

If you're just asking about detecting/back-referencing incoming query strings, then you can do that with

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^article=widgets&color=([a-z]{3,})$

followed by a rule for a URL-path with that query. In this example, the color could be back-referenced in the rule as "%1".

Jim

[whoo]

way over my head -- I'll just leave it as is. :)