.htaccess multiple page redirection

Newbie in pain

[spiral]

I'm struggling with my .htaccess file to redirect from all pages with index.php in URL to root. Currently have several lines, each doing something and I don't really know anything about .htaccess. so I'm sure what I have is ugly and redundant.

Anyways, what I'm having trouble with is the ability to redirect various pages that have filenames like /index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68& ;Itemid=61 to the root of my site. I can't seem to do it. Nothing I've tried worked, so I deleted the attempts.

Here's my .htaccess file so far:

<Files ~ "^.(htaccess¦htpasswd)$">
deny from all
</Files>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.example\.com)(:80)? [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
order deny,allow

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*/index.html
RewriteRule ^(.*)index.html$ http://example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Redirect permanent /cj/consulta/index.php http://example.com
order deny,allow

Redirect permanent /indexbc70.html http://example.com/index70.php?option=com_content&view=ar ticle&id=45&Itemid=54
order deny,allow

Redirect permanent /index.php http://example.com

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .html

Help would be greatly appreciated, as would any pointers to a good tutorial for non-programmers. I've tried a few , but either little of it made sense to me, or it was too basic.

[edited by: jdMorgan at 12:41 am (utc) on April 1, 2009]
[edit reason] example.com [/edit]

[g1smd]

Don't mix Redirect and RewriteRule within the same file. You'll get strange effects; use RewriteRule for all of the rules.

The Options line needs to go first.

The index redirect needs to go before the non-www redirect.

The very specific page redirects need to go before all of the other redirects.

There's a better way to code the index redirect, and it was posted here only a few hours ago.

[webmasterworld.com...]

[spiral]

Thanks for the reply and suggestions.

I cleaned up the code, but am still having problems. The 1 thing I can't seem to do is redirect a call for www.mysite.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=85 into www.mysite.com

What's currently happening is that a call for www.mysite.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=85 gets redirected to www.mysite.com/?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=85

This is my new .htaccess file:

<Files ~ "^.(htaccess¦htpasswd)$">
deny from all
</Files>
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteOptions MaxRedirects=10
RewriteRule ^cj/consulta/index.php$ http://www.example.com [R=301,NC]
RewriteRule ^indexbc70.html$ http://example.com/index70.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=54 [R=301,NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)index\.php(.*)? http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,NC]

# Externally redirect requests for index.html in any directory to "/" in that directory
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /([^/]+/)*index\.html\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(([^/]+/)*)index\.html$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

# Externally redirect requests for *all* non-canonical hostnames to canonical hostname, including case errors and appended FQDN indicator and/or port numbers.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.example\.com$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .html

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

[edited by: jdMorgan at 12:42 am (utc) on April 1, 2009]
[edit reason] example.com [/edit]

[g1smd]

I'm short on time at present. That code is much better, but there's obviously some issues left still.

One obvious fix is that all redirects need [L] along with the [R=301] flag.

[jdMorgan]

To clear the query string, append a question mark to the substitution URL in the RewriteRule.

RewriteRule ^here$ /ther[b]e?[/b] [flags]

Jim

[spiral]

Thank God for WebmasterWorld, really. Problem finally solved, thanks much for the help jd and g1, it's been oh so frustrating, and I'm feeling a nice sense of relief. Gotta say that you all are quick as well as helpful.

[jdMorgan]

Please post your cleaned-up code for the benefit of our members.

Thanks,
Jim

[spiral]

OK, so this is what I'm using now, it's doing what I need, but I'm sure it's far from a model ,htaccess file.

<Files ~ "^.(htaccess¦htpasswd)$">
deny from all
</Files>
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteOptions MaxRedirects=10
RewriteRule ^cj/consulta/index.php$ [mysite.com...] [R=301,NC]
RewriteRule ^indexbc70.html$ [mysite.com...] [R=301,NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)index\.php(.*)? [mysite.com...] [R=301,L]

# Externally redirect requests for index.html in any directory to "/" in that directory
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /([^/]+/)*index\.html\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(([^/]+/)*)index\.html$ [mysite.com...] [R=301,L]

# Externally redirect requests for *all* non-canonical hostnames to canonical hostname, including case errors and appended FQDN indicator and/or port numbers.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.mysite\.com$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ [mysite.com...] [R=301,L]

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .html

------------------------------------
Now let's say I wanted the site to redirect from www to non-wwww pages, is this the way?

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.mysite\.com$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ [mysite.com...] [R=301,L]

[spiral]

Something else I'm not clear about - on this line:
^cj/consulta/index.php$ [mysite.com...] [R=301,NC]

I did not escape the "." in [index.php], but it still seems to work. So I don't think I understand when escapes are needed. I though that in a string between ^ and $ any special character needed escaping.

[Caterham]

but it still seems to work

Of course since the period is "any character", too. If you escape it, it won't match any character but a literal period.

So I don't think I understand when escapes are needed.

Any time when something which has a special meaning in a specific environment shouldn't have its special meaning.

[jdMorgan]

You can improve the performance of your rules by adding the [L] flag to each of them -- as in "[NC,R=301,L]"

Jim