Remove file extensions but not block directories of same name?

Questions about .htaccess

[NyahK]

Hello, this is my first post on this site. Hopefully someone can help me out!

I would like to accomplish two things with my .htaccess file:

Remove file extensions (.php in this case).

Not prevent files and directories from having the same name.

So for example, I need both URLs to work:

http://www.example.com/pictures(.php)
http://www.example.com/pictures/skiing(.php)

With the code I'm using, /pictures(.php) doesn't work because the /pictures/ directory exists. It won't let me use file names which have directories of the same name! I know it's possible, though, because the content management systems of software such as IP.Board allows it, so...

Can anyone help me out? Please? Here's what I'm using (there's also code in there to force www in the URL):

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.php

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Options -Indexes

Please keep it as simple as possible!

Thank you.

[jdMorgan]

Try this first:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
#
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.*[^/])$ /$1.php [L]

Then speed it up significantly:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
#
RewriteCond $1 !\.(php|gif|jpe?g|png|ico|css|js)$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.*[^/])$ /$1.php [L]

Excluding the listed filetypes prevents the server from having to go do the two disk checks for requested objects which cannot be created/generated by your php scripts. You may add more filetypes if you like, but it's most important to exclude the most frequently requested ones -- you don't have to build an exhaustive list.

Jim

[NyahK]

Thank you, Jim!

Unfortunately, using that code, if I go to /pictures(.php) it loads the /pictures/ directory instead. Any way around this? As I said before, IP.Board does it so I know it's possible to have a PHP file and directory share the same name and still function.

Here's hoping!

[youfoundjake]

Jim wrote this out over a year ago helping me out..

IndexOptions FancyIndexing
Options All
RewriteEngine on
#
# Externally redirect client /index page requests to "/"
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]+\ /([^/]+/)*index\.html? 
RewriteRule ^(([^/]+/)*)index\.html?$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
#
# Externally redirect client requests contains htm/html extension to extensionless URL
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /([^/]+/)*[^.]+\.html?
# externally redirect to extensionless URI 
RewriteRule ^(([^/]+/)*[^.]+)\.html?$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
#
# Externally redirect non-blank non-canonical hostname requests to canonical hostname
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.example\.com)?$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
#
# If requested extensionless URL-path does not resolve to an existing directory 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d 
# and if requested extensionless URL-path plus ".htm" does resolve to an existing file 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.htm -f 
# then append ".htm" to resolve the actual filename 
RewriteRule ^(([^/]+/)*[^./]+)$ /$1.htm [L]

I subsituted .htm for php as needed..
[webmasterworld.com...]

[NyahK]

This code produces the same error as described in my second post, unfortunately.

[jdMorgan]

Sorry... Remove the

 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d 

line completely, or comment it out.

Jim

[NyahK]

Perfect!

Thank you very much, Jim! :)