move pages to a folder

[helenp]

Hi,
wich is the easiest way to move pages to a folder with a 301?.
As the files will be moving place I suppose the only way to do is using the htaccess file, even if I dont like to touch it after all problems I had.
I suppose the rule should come after all rewrite rules I have for both http and https.

On the pages I want to move I have this at the top,
I assume I want need it anymore if I do a 301 to a http folder:

<?php header('Content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8'); 
if ( $_SERVER['HTTPS'] )
 {
 $host = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
 $request_uri = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
 $good_url = "http://" . $host . $request_uri;

 header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
 header( "Location: $good_url" );
 exit;
 }
?> 

Sorry for asking but Im afraid of touching the htaccess, after all that happened.

Is there a way not to do the redirection to /folder/new_page.php and just add /folder/

I want to move pages with the url similar, such as for example:
widgets_blue
widgets_red
etc.
And from domainroot to folder, and also from folder to another folder.
Not to do a rewrite rule for every page
is there a shorthand for
widgets_whatever.htm to /folder/widgets_whatever.htm
and also /folder/widgets_whatever.htm to /another_folder/widgets_whatever.htm

Thanks,

If needeed this is the rewrites rules I have:

AddType application/x-httpd-php5 .htm .html
RewriteEngine On
 
# REDIRECT htm INDEX PAGES to index/
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} !^443$
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /([^/]+/)*index\.html?\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(([^/]+/)*)index\.html?$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} ^443$
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /([^/]+/)*index\.html?\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(([^/]+/)*)index\.html?$ https://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

# Get rid of extra path info such as example.com/pagina1.htm/maps/ etc
RewriteRule ^((?:[^./]+/)*[^./]+\.(?:html?|php))/ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L] 

# Redirect non-canonical to www
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} !^443$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.example.com\.com)?$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} ^443$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.example.com\.com)?$
RewriteRule (.*) https://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

[edited by: coopster at 11:01 pm (utc) on Apr 8, 2013]
[edit reason] example.com was misspelled; fixed it [/edit]

[g1smd]

What do you mean by "move"?

Are you talking about "moving the physical files to a different place in the server filesystem" or are you talking about "changing the URL used for accessing the content"?

You can do one without the other by using a rewrite. If you want people to use a different URL to access the content, you should also do a redirect from the old URL to the new URL.

In detail. You can move files around on the server but keep the same URL as before by using a rewrite to connect the URL request to the actual physical file. You can set a new URL for some content whether or not you move the physical file around inside the server.

So, before talking about code, let's get a clear idea what you want to do, described in terms of "files" as used inside the server and "URLs" as used on the web.

Is the aim to have new URLs for your content? Are you wanting to tidy up the FTP view of your site by moving files around but retain the old URLs used to access the content? Do you want to move the files inside the server and have new URLs too?

[helenp]

Thanks,
Puf, not sure I got you.
I am going to move the file physically yes, I thought that automatic changed the url name...

Before I had relative links and as I have the same menu on all pages, not to update several menus I just had all pages in root for english section and for other languages in there respective folders and one menu for all pages.

Now that I changed to root relative links, I can have more order moving some pages to folders.
So I have for exampel a page with url
.exampel.com/blue_widgets.htm and I want to move that and other similar to a folder so the new url will be
exampel.com/widgets/blue_widgets.htm
and also move exampel.com/language/blue_widgets.htm to exampel.com/language/widgets/blue_widgets.htm

I think its looks nicer to have main product in root and other products in folder, and whats more important, its easier to work with as I wont have that many pages in root folder.

These pages have many visits as they are well ranked.

[lucy24]

I am going to move the file physically yes, I thought that automatic changed the url name...

Yes and no. By default, an URL is a file's physical location within your domain, so

www.example.com/dir/subdir/filename.html

means: "filename.html" lives inside "subdir" which lives inside "dir" which is a top-level directory within your domain's main directory (parallel to the top-level index.html file).

But thanks to rewriting, it doesn't have to be that way.

Since you're talking about files that already exist-- and I have to assume they're already getting traffic-- you will probably want to rewrite them. Unless you really didn't like the old location and you want the URL to look different.

Conversely: If you are only doing this because you don't like the URLs and want to make different ones, you don't have to physically move the files. You can just rewrite them.

I suppose the rule should come after all rewrite rules I have for both http and https.

The exact position of the rule will depend on whether you decide to rewrite or redirect.

If you redirect, the rule should come before your general redirects (index.html and with/without www.) but after any RewriteRules ending in [F] or [G]. If you rewrite, it depends on what your existing rules are.

#1 You need to make sure the different rules don't conflict with each other
#2 Arrange the rules so there is no more than one redirect.
#3 All rewrites go after all redirects. (There are rare exceptions but they probably won't apply here.)

If you use relative links, remember that they are based on where the browser "thinks" it is, whether or not that's where it "really" is.

[helenp]

Thanks Lucy,
I used relative links, but I switched to root links, therefore I can now rearange the site and move some pages to folders, as I it is easier to work separating diferent kinds of category pages.

I want google to deindex the old page and reindex the new one with the new url.

Not sure how to look if there are backlinks or not, maybe in google analytics, if no backlinks the rule can be deleted whan google updated there index.

Is there a shorthand as I said before or must I do one 301 per every page in htaccess?

As I said, I dont like to touch anymore the htaccess file as had so many problems, I was thinking is it a bad idea to leave the files, add a 301 in php on the page to the new page, and when indexed just delete the old page?

[g1smd]

Moving the files around on the server, into some sort of structure, makes life tidier for when you're working on the site.

If you simply move the files, then yes each page will have a new URL. However, you could add an internal rewrite so that the old URLs continue to be used. The rewrite connects the old URL request to the new internal file location.

However, it sounds like you do want to use new URLs too, so you'll simply add a redirect (using a RewriteRule) for each page URL at the top of the htaccess file and make sure that all internal site links point to the new page URLs.

The redirect is for people clicking stale SERPs and accessing stored bookmarks as well as to inform searchengines the page has moved.

These redirects are VERY easy:

RewriteRule ^oldpath/oldfile.ext http://www.example.com/newpath/newpage.ext [R=301,L]

[helenp]

These redirects are VERY easy:
RewriteRule ^oldpath/oldfile.ext http://www.example.com/newpath/newpage.ext [R=301,L]

Thanks,
Is there some kind of shorthand not to do one for each page, as the url is similar, just the end is diferent.

So this should como on top of all rewrites I have I understand

[helenp]

hm,
as the files to redirect are many, therefore I wanted a shorthand, considering the 3 languages and that I do all on the htaccess in rootlevel.

What about adding an htaccess file in the folder for the other languages, just for the redirections for the files I want to move (and for future), ie small local rules just for that folder?
However I will still have the rules for the whole site regarding index.htm and non www etc on the roothtaccess file.

Is that ok, or will those folder htaccess file overwrite the non www and index.htm rules etc. in the root htaccess file?

[g1smd]

You need all these redirects in the root htaccess so they are processed ahead of everything else.

Yes, you can redirect many URLs with one rule. You replace the literal path and filename in the rule with a Regular Expression that will match a group of requests, capture the variable part within ( and ) parentheses, and finally substitute it into the target URL as $1 etc.

Examples:

RewriteRule ^pets/(cat|dog|iguana|aardvark|armadillo)\.html http://www.example.com/animals/$1.php [R=301,L]

RewriteRule ^pets/([a-z]+)\.html http://www.example.com/animals/$1.php [R=301,L]

[lucy24]

What about adding an htaccess file in the folder for the other languages, just for the redirections for the files I want to move (and for future), ie small local rules just for that folder?

DO NOT use mod_rewrite in more than one location. (Either in two or more htaccess files, or in a <Files> envelope within the same htaccess.*) Yes, it can be done, but it creates vast new complications and you don't want to mess with it. Honest.

If all your language-specific pages have something distinctive in the URL, for example
www.example.com/es/blahblah
vs.
www.example.com/se/blahblah
then you can easily put that in your main htaccess.


* Do as I say. Not as I do.

[helenp]

Thanks,

* Do as I say. Not as I do.

Am trying to, hover its complicated to resist the temptation.

RewriteRule ^pets/(cat|dog|iguana|aardvark|armadillo)\.html http://www.example.com/animals/$1.php [R=301,L]

RewriteRule ^pets/([a-z]+)\.html http://www.example.com/animals/$1.php [R=301,L]

The first works perfect but is several lines long, the second sort of doesnt understand, does it match all lowever case from a-z?

All the pages I want to move starts equal ie, name_othername,
so I tried to do a shorter way changing it to:
RewriteRule ^([name]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/reviews/$1.htm [R=301,L]
But it didntīwork.

Also I tried with a wildcard wich didnīt work either:
RewriteRule ^name_(.*).htm http://www.example.com/reviews/name$1.htm [R=301,L]

Thanks again

[edited by: coopster at 11:02 pm (utc) on Apr 8, 2013]
[edit reason] example.com was misspelled; fixed it [/edit]

[g1smd]

[name]+ means the input can contain any number of the letters n, a, m, and e in any order - as long as there is at least one character.

[a-z]+ means all lower case and at least one character long. You might need [a-z_]+ or [a-z_-]+

Never use .* at the beginning or in the middle of a pattern.

^name_([a-z-]+)\.htm$ matches literal "name_" then captures the remainder before the extension in $1.

^([a-z-]+)_([a-z-]+)\.htm$ will yield $1 and $2 with the captured information.

You need to read a tutorial on regular expressions to understand what ^ . + * [] [^] - () {} , and $ mean.

[helenp]

I am trying..., on this does not say what the - means:
[httpd.apache.org...]


If I undestood you correct I need something like this:
^name_([a-z-]+)\.htm$ matches literal "name_" then captures the remainder before the extension in $1.
as I want literally name_

In the particular case the pages I am doing are name_yearwithnumber so I tried
RewriteRule ^name_([0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/reviews/$1.htm [R=301,L]
but of course did not work,
so I added the ones that did work,
and now they does not work either....
looks my host has some kind of cache for the htaccess so I will try in an hour again

[edited by: coopster at 11:03 pm (utc) on Apr 8, 2013]
[edit reason] example.com was misspelled; fixed it [/edit]

[helenp]

Doing more tests,
and the problem with the rules that worked, (the long several line ones) was that it worked with one rule but not with more than one.

so then I started with the shortened rule
and this works perfect:
RewriteRule ^(name_[0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/reviews/$1.htm [R=301,L]

Then I tried to add a second rule right after the first like so:
RewriteRule ^(spanish/name_[0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/spanish/opiniones/$1.htm [R=301,L]
And then the first stopped to work, and the second is not ok as I got this url:
http://www.example.com/spanish/opiniones/spanish/name_2005.htm
So I get I must exclude the foldername spanish in the new url.

[edited by: coopster at 11:04 pm (utc) on Apr 8, 2013]
[edit reason] example.com was misspelled; fixed it [/edit]

[helenp]

I answer myself,
both these are correct,
however they only work using one of them, not both together....I am stuck here:

RewriteRule ^(name_[0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/reviews/$1.htm [R=301,L]

RewriteRule ^spanish/(name_[0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/spanish/opiniones/$1.htm [R=301,L]

I know that $ means end of string but what does the 1 mean?

[lucy24]

$ only means "end of string" in the pattern. (Outside of htaccess it can also mean "end of line" but within htaccess each string is only one line anyway.) In the target it has a different meaning: $1 $2 etc. through $9 means "reuse the captured group".

So

RewriteRule ^name_([a-z]+)\.html http://www.example.com/newplace/$1 [R=301,L]

would mean:
request for /name_foobar.html
redirects to
/newplace/foobar

request for /name_anchor.html
redirects to
/newplace/anchor

request for /name_ogooglebar.html
redirects to
/newplace/ogooglebar

but

request for /name_something-else.html
does not redirect because "something-else" contains a character other than a-z so it does not fit the pattern.

The caret ^ is even worse because it has two different meanings in the pattern (none in the target). By itself it means "beginning of string" but as the first character inside grouping brackets it means "not", so
^[a-z] = string begins with a letter
[^a-z] = anything other than a letter
^[^a-z] = string begins with a non-letter

Can't remember if we have a boilerplate post that lists (a) the characters that have special meaning in Regular Expressions and (b) characters that have special meaning in mod_rewrite and/or apache-in-general (notably ! and space).

Edit:

RewriteRule ^(name_[0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/reviews/$1.htm [R=301,L]

Then I tried to add a second rule right after the first like so:

RewriteRule ^(spanish/name_[0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/spanish/opiniones/$1.htm [R=301,L]
And then the first stopped to work, and the second is not ok as I got this url: http://www.example.com/spanish/opiniones/spanish/name_2005.htm

You goofed and included "spanish/" in your capture. Fix the parentheses and all should be well.

If the URLs use ".htm" both before and after the redirect, and the filename stays at the end, you may as well include it in the capture.

No reason for the first rule to stop working, though. Are they both anchored as you show them here?

And now go write out the word example in big letters, post it above the computer and memorize the spelling ;)

[helenp]

And now go write out the word example in big letters, post it above the computer and memorize the spelling ;)

No need to, I noticied and memorized bymyself after that,
by your answer I think you answered my previous rules,as I found the way how to do it, but both dont work together?
This is my last post:

these are correct,
however they only work using one of them, not both together....I am stuck here:

RewriteRule ^(name_[0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/reviews/$1.htm [R=301,L]

RewriteRule ^spanish/(name_[0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/spanish/opiniones/$1.htm [R=301,L]

Did not get this:
If the URLs use ".htm" both before and after the redirect, and the filename stays at the end, you may as well include it in the capture.

[Dideved]

> Never use .* at the beginning or in the middle of a
> pattern.

If you're going to keep repeating this to everyone here, then it's probably best that you explain your reasons each time, because this suggestion is neither standard practice nor officially recommended.

It's a micro-optimization. And the prevailing wisdom among developers is that micro-optimizations are a waste of the developer's time and a bad reason to complicate our code.

[helenp]

I have checked and doubblechecked,
doing the rules with a non existing page, ie,
write the nonexistant url in the bar it does the redirect to another non existing page

RewriteRule ^(names_[0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/reviews/$1.htm [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^espanol/(names_[0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/espanol/opiniones/$1.htm [R=301,L]

this works, the file "names" does not exist

These two rules below do not work and the file "name" does exist

RewriteRule ^(name_[0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/reviews/$1.htm [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^espanol/(name_[0-9]+)\.htm http://www.example.com/espanol/opiniones/$1.htm [R=301,L
When I try I go to a search page that search for example.com.com

Edited, when I use existing files, the first rule, the root rule does a redirection to /reviews/year.htm it skipps the word name_
and as I sadi before in the second rule it search for exampel.com.com
but as I said when i use a nonexisting file both rules works and together....

I am on litespeed, maybe thats the reason

[helenp]

Puf, how stupid,
the issue is on page.
I said on beginning I had a redirect on the pages, and I just remembered it. And this redirection I did due to the duplicated http and https pages I had.
However I dont understand why this interfear with the htaccess, as it should only apply if the page is hit with https.

if ( $_SERVER['HTTPS'] )
{
$host = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
$request_uri = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$good_url = "http://" . $host . $request_uri;

header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
header( "Location: $good_url" );
exit;
}

[helenp]

Actually I liked the 301 onpage to tell if page is http or https, any idea on how to keep it and still be able to do the 301 to another url as well?

Or maybe I should use this in htacces for the whole site instead of having the rule on page:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !checkout.php
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
This is not mine, I found it, If I use it or similar I would have to add many pages in the same rule or directly use absulote links on site, thing I am not fancy of.

[edited by: incrediBILL at 10:19 pm (utc) on Apr 9, 2013]
[edit reason] unlinked rewrite rule [/edit]

[lucy24]

Did not get this:
If the URLs use ".htm" both before and after the redirect, and the filename stays at the end, you may as well include it in the capture.

If the captured part comes immediately before ".htm", and the corresponding $1 is right before ".htm" in the target, then you might as well capture-and-reuse the ".htm" too. Saves a nanosecond or two-- both in reading and in execution-- and makes the code tidier.

Like this:

^(blahblah)\.htm http://www.example.com/otherplace/$1.htm [R=301,L]
is the same as
^(blahblah\.htm) http://www.example.com/otherplace/$1 [R=301,L]

:: wandering off to pursue obvious line of thought ::

[helenp]

^(blahblah)\.htm http://www.example.com/otherplace/$1.htm [R=301,L]
is the same as
^(blahblah\.htm) http://www.example.com/otherplace/$1 [R=301,L]

Thanks, thought so, but not sure what capture was.

Regarding the issue,
Below rule wich I have on all pages was what was making that all the redirections did not work:

if ( $_SERVER['HTTPS'] )
{
$host = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
$request_uri = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$good_url = "http://" . $host . $request_uri;

header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
header( "Location: $good_url" );
exit;
}

So then I tested changing this:
if ( $_SERVER['HTTPS'] )
to this:
if ($_SERVER['SERVER_PORT'] == 443)
and doing so the redirections work.
So I suppose I better change it on the whole site, let me know you opinion please.

[helenp]

Think Im gonna go crazy,
as the first rule worked with both rules in htaccess I changed to if port == 443 on whole site,
then I added both rules,
tested the first, works like a charm, then tested the second....does not work, i go to example.com.com again.....
so I deleted the first rule and left the second alone,
and now I get as url mysite.com/espanol/opiniones/espanol/opiniones/name.htm

These are the two rules, whats wrong with the second?
RewriteRule ^(name_[0-9]+\.htm) http://www.example.com/reviews/$1 [R=301,L]

RewriteRule ^espanol/(name_[0-9]+\.htm) http://www.example.com/espanol/opiniones/$1 [R=301,L]

[g1smd]

You need to look at the output of the Live HTTP Headers extension for Firefox to see how many redirects are in that chain. The middle steps may give you a clue as to what extra rule is being invoked along the way.

Do make sure that all your rules are using RewriteRule syntax, that you have no rules using Redirect or RedirectMatch (convert them to use RewriteRule if you do) and you list all of the external redirects before the internal rewrites.

[helenp]

You need to look at the output of the Live HTTP Headers extension for Firefox to see how many redirects are in that chain. The middle steps may give you a clue as to what extra rule is being invoked along the way.

Installing it,
I just did in reverse order, added both rules, and checked a page for the second rule, and this time the second rule worked, but then I did the first and that didnīt work. So looks like the one I test firs works, the other doesnt

[helenp]

puf, this happened before......argh
the codes works perfect, its just my #*$! firefox that do strange things...and caches the htaccess, but only sometimes.

I must stop using it...

Thanks for all.
Who bet I will forget the third time and have to go through all this again....?

[lucy24]

Whoops! We always forget this detail. If there is still room on the wall above your computer, post this:

clear your cache

It is one of the top three fixes for what ails you. It is also useful to have many browsers. Try something in a browser you don't use often, where the request can't possibly be cached.

The other very useful thing is to keep a complete test site on your own hard drive. Download and install MAMP or WAMP or, uh, Linux equivalent. I don't know about WAMP, but the people who coded MAMP made a mistake and set it up so you can install it like a normal Mac program and run it like a normal Mac program and never have to go near a command line ;) This is a sort of pseudo-server that runs off your own hard drive, so links with leading or trailing / will work just like on the "live" site.

Now since this is your own "server" you can change the config file-- but you don't want to. (That is both a prescriptive and a descriptive statement :) ) What you want to do instead is make an htaccess file-- with leading . dot --and put it in the directory where your site's local files live. (WAIT! Before you do this, make sure you know how to make files with leading . visible. Otherwise you may not be able to find the htaccess later.) This will work just like a "real" htaccess except that you need to change one thing. Anywhere that your htaccess would normally give the full http://www.example.com/ your WAMP version must say only / so the redirect stays on your own computer.

One more thing you can do in htaccess. You can do this in MAMP/WAMP and you can also do it on a test site if you've got one; you can't do it on your real site. Add these lines:

ExpiresByType text/html "access"
ExpiresByType text/php "access"

If your browser is obedient, it will now make a fresh request every time, instead of caching pages. So you don't have to hit the Reload button all the time, or empty the cache every two minutes.

[helenp]

Now since this is your own "server" you can change the config file-

It does not always cache, I do changes in htaccess and see the changes immediately but for some reason it did cache the page, or the server did not say the page changed.
I have many browsers for testing purpose.
The site is litespeed wich cache all pages and files, but when changed it should send a new file.
aaaa, could be due to the summertime, we changed hour last saturday.

[lucy24]

htaccess isn't cached, because the browser doesn't download it. Only the page itself can be cached. The browser only "sees" htaccess when it makes a request.