.htaccess redirect without query string

Redirecting without query string using htaccess

[ashish2005]

I have already asked this question at one more place but I did not get any response. I am sure I will get help with my .htacess file here like I did in the past.

What I am trying to do using .htacess is to redirect old urls to new urls . Now 301 redirects are the best way to do this according to my understandings. I googled around and used the following code to redirect

.htacess file:

RedirectMatch 301 /play-([0-9a-zA-Z?-]+)-online-([0-9]+).html http://www.example.com/online-games/$1.html

I am actually trying to redirect http://www.example.com/play-Fighting-Mario-online-541.html to http://www.example.com/online-games/fighting-mario.html

What actually happens after the redirect is that I see the following url in the title bar:

http://www.example.com/online-games/Fighting-Mario.html?task=view&id=1110&name=Haunted-House

Everything is ok, except the query strings after the ? part. I only need till .html .

I have tried everything, searching around, using similar codes of others using Redirectmatch. I am really poor at .htacess and find it really difficult (Regex and all). I tried combinations of codes but to no avail.

I would be really grateful if someone here helped me out.

Thank You

[phranque]

you want to use a mod_rewrite directive (RewriteRule) instead of a mod_alias directive.
end your substitution string with a question mark to avoid passing through the query string.

[ashish2005]

Are you telling me to change that RewriteMatch in my code above with RewriteRule?

[lucy24]

Now 301 redirects are the best way to do this according to my understandings.

This is correct, but you need to distinguish between "what to do" and "how to do it". A 301 redirect is the desired end result. You can get there in a variety of ways including:

Redirect(Match) 301 etcetera (mod_alias in htaccess or config file)
RewriteRule blahblah [R=301,L] (mod_rewrite in htaccess or config file)
php page that sends out a 301 response header combined with new URL

If the redirect involves a query string, you can't use mod_alias (Redirect or RedirectMatch by that name). This, in turn, means that if you have any existing rules using mod_alias, those rules also need to be translated to mod_rewrite form.

If you search this Forum you will find lots of posts about how to change or remove the query from a redirect target. But before you go there, we need to know where the query is coming from. mod_alias didn't simply invent it; it had to be there already.

[phranque]

Are you telling me to change that RewriteMatch in my code above with RewriteRule?

there's more to it than just changing the name of the directive, but if you are doing anything with the query string besides a pass-through, then yes you need the RewriteRule Directive:
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_rewrite.html#rewriterule

[ashish2005]

quote:lucy24

...we need to know where the query is coming from. mod_alias didn't simply invent it; it had to be there already.

The query is coming from another RewriteRule in .htaccess which is

RewriteRule ^play-([0-9a-zA-Z?-]+)-online-([0-9]+) index.php?task=view&id=$2&name=$1 [L]

quote:phranque

RewriteRule blahblah [R=301,L]

The [R=301,L] seems to do nothing with my urls.

I tried

RewriteRule 301 /play-([0-9a-zA-Z?-]+)-online-([0-9]+).html http://www.example.com/online-games/$1.html [L,R=301]

That does not redirect the url to anything. It just opens the url the way it is.

[phranque]

there's a 301 that doesn't belong in that RewriteRule (check the documentation i linked to for syntax) and you should probably add start and end anchors to the Pattern.

make sure your external redirects are before your internal rewrite or you will expose your internal urls.

[g1smd]

The leading slash should probably be omitted from your pattern. Replace with ^ perhaps.

Escape the literal period in the pattern.

Are you sure you need a question mark in the character group?

[lucy24]

The query is coming from another RewriteRule

You say "another" RewriteRule but in fact your originally quoted redirect is made with mod_alias (Redirect by that name). You MUST change everything to mod_rewrite form, or nobody can be answerable for the consequences ;)

[ashish2005]

This is just too complicated for me. I have just given up. I just decided to let the query strings stay.

Thanks Guys

[phranque]

don't quit so easily or you have wasted my time, lucy24's time and g1smd's time.

301 /play-([0-9a-zA-Z?-]+)-online-([0-9]+).html

1. get rid of the 301 and leading slash
2. replace it with a ^ which is a start anchor
3. get rid of the ? in the character group
4. escape the literal period with a backslash
5. add a $ to the end of the pattern which is an end anchor
6. add a ? after the substitution string so the query string doesn't pass through to the redirected url.
7. done!

if you have any other mod_rewrite or mod_alias directives such as RewriteRule or Redirect/RedirectMatch then you should probably show us.

[ashish2005]

don't quit so easily or you have wasted my time, lucy24's time and g1smd's time.

Thank you for saying that. I definitely do not want to have wasted time of anyone. So I am giving this another go.

1. get rid of the 301 and leading slash
2. replace it with a ^ which is a start anchor
3. get rid of the ? in the character group
4. escape the literal period with a backslash
5. add a $ to the end of the pattern which is an end anchor
6. add a ? after the substitution string so the query string doesn't pass through to the redirected url.
7. done!

I tried what you said and if I am correct after modification, this is what becomes of my code

RewriteRule ^play-([0-9a-zA-Z-]+)-online-([0-9]+)\.html$ http://www.example.com/online-games/$1.html? [L,R=301]

And now to my delight it works perfectly just like I wanted it to. Almost gave up. Thanks for everything.

[lucy24]

:: big round of applause for phranque ::

[phranque]

cheers!
=8)

[g1smd]

Since you're not reusing $2, the rule might even simplify to

RewriteRule ^play-([0-9a-zA-Z-]+)-online http://www.example.com/online-games/$1.html? [R=301,L]

as long as the new pattern doesn't match requests that it should not.

Can there be another hyphen between the play- and -online parts in the old style URLs? If not, omit "-" from the character group.

[lucy24]

Can there be another hyphen between the play- and -online parts in the old style URLs?

First post:

... redirect http://www.example.com/play-Fighting-Mario-online-541.html to ...

:(

[g1smd]

Didn't read that bit. :)

Does the new URL need to have the .html extension?
This could be the right time to go extensionless.