RedirectMatch

Concatenating problem

[ajcoon]

Hello,

I'm trying to do the following with mod_alias:

RedirectMatch permanent "^/foo.*" [bar.com...]

The problem is, whatever comes after /foo gets concatenated onto the resulting URL. I don't want this, and based on the documentation for mod_alias, I wouldn't expect this behavior unless I did this:

RedirectMatch permanent "^/foo(.*)" [bar.com$1...]

How can I accomplish the simple redirect without concatenation of the extended URL?

Thanks,
-aj

[Samizdata]

I think this should do the trick:

RedirectMatch 301 ^/foo http://www.example.com/

Anything at all that starts with "/foo" should be redirected to example.com root.

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[ajcoon]

Hello,

Tried this (essentially removing the .* from the LHS of my original configuration) and had the same result, unfortunately.

Thanks,
-aj

[g1smd]

I always use RewriteRule so never meet that issue.

RewriteRule ^foo http://www.example.com/? [R=301,L]

You need a trailing / after the host name, otherwise you get a second redirect to add it. You need to avoid that redirection chain.

The question mark also clears any appended query string data too.

[Samizdata]

had the same result, unfortunately

As our esteemed moderator often says (I paraphrase):

"Completely flush your browser cache before testing any changes."

It seemed to work fine here on a quick test.

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[ajcoon]

That did the trick...thanks!

-aj

[g1smd]

Have you also got any stuff using Mod_Rewrite?

Be aware not to mix Mod_Rewrite and Mod_Alias stuff in the same file.

[Samizdata]

Be aware not to mix Mod_Rewrite and Mod_Alias stuff in the same file

I certainly wouldn't want to mix them, but I have no problem using them in the same file.

I have RedirectMatch calls before RewriteEngine On on several sites.

Apologies if I misundertood you.

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[g1smd]

Execution order depends on the reverse order of module loading in the httpd.conf file... not on the order you list the rules in your file.

[jdMorgan]

... and can change if you switch hosts -- It's not common, but does happen, and can cause trouble. Therefore, if any execution-order dependencies exists, it's best to use only mod_rewrite if you use any mod_rewrite.

This prevents problems such as exposing your internal script paths if internal rewrites are excuted before external redirects because of module execution order.

Again, this is not a very-common problem. But it's a whole lot easier to prevent trouble when your site is small and growing, rather than having to go back and rewrite a whole bunch of code on a big site when it outgrows the server and must be moved to one where mod_rewrite executes before mod_alias. It's just one less thing to worry about when you are under pressure to make a fast and seamless server upgrade...

Jim

[g1smd]

More details in posts over there: [webmasterworld.com...]

[Samizdata]

Thanks to both of you for the explanations (and welcome back Jim).

This is a potential problem I will be eliminating from all my sites.

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