redirect dynamic url to dynamic url, how to?

[Fingers68]

old url

/shop_products.php?page=variable1&subcat_id=&cat_id=variable2

new url

/shop_products.php?page=variable1&id=variable2

subcat_id is a redundant variable which I want to remove, however google as indexed a great number of them and this will cause duplicate content problems if I do not redirect.

I have seen this

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^auto(moduleŚcom)=downloads((&[^&]+)*)&?$
RewriteRule ^board/index\.php$ http://example.com/board/index.php?app=downloads%2 [R=301,L]

here [webmasterworld.com...]

But I am struggling to see how this might fit into my situation? And would I be better off with redirect as google has indexed these pages?

[g1smd]

Yes, you'll need that redirect to fix the old links that are already known to search engines.

Capture both wanted variables in separate backreferences using a RewriteCond. Re-use them as %1 and %2 in the target URL of the redirect.


You also need to think whether now is the time to dump parameters completely and move to URLs like:

/products/id-variable2/page-variable1

instead. There are many advantages.

[Fingers68]

Can you be a little more specific please? I am not to upto speed with RewriteCond?

[Fingers68]

Still looking for solution to this if theres any help out there thanks?

[jdMorgan]

The fastest path to a solution that will be exactly correct for your needs, and that you can understand, modify, and maintain without requiring dozens more posts in this thread is here [httpd.apache.org]. The resources cited in our Forum Charter -- and indeed, the Charter itself, may add some clarity to this thread.

The general form will be:

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^page=([^&]+)&subcat_id=[^&]*&cat_id=([^&]+)$
RewriteRule ^shop_products\.php$ http://www.example.com/shop_products.php?page=%1&id=%2 [R=301,L]

But there are any number of "ifs, ands, or buts" that may affect whether that's what you really want.

Jim