.htaccess to redirect /sand and /sandbox to /sandboxes

Redirecting requests for short names to a longer one on the same domain

[Lucas]

What do I add to an .htaccess file to redirect requests for example.com/sand and example.com/sandbox (or any URI whose path starts with "/sand") to example.com/sandboxes?

For what it’s worth, I believe my current attempt creates an infinite loop:

RewriteRule ^sand(?!boxes).*$ /sandboxes [L]

[Lucas]

It looks like the same loop problem with RedirectMatch, which doesn’t work either:

RedirectMatch 301 ^/sand /sandbox

[not2easy]

Are /sand and /sandbox directories or pages? Is this on WordPress?

[Lucas]

No directories involved here. /sandbox is a page.

It’s not WordPress, just home brewed.

[lucy24]

Don't use RedirectMatch: that's a mod_alias directive, which doesn't play nice with mod_rewrite.

Are you mass-redirecting a lot of URLs to the same one? (Hmmmm.) Or are you consolidating assorted "sandblahblah" directories into a single "sandboxes"? If it's the latter, we would need to take an entirely different approach, so post back with details.

Assuming a few specific URLs:

For what it’s worth, I believe my current attempt creates an infinite loop:

RewriteRule ^sand(?!boxes).*$ /sandboxes [L]

You said redirect, didn't you? Then you need the redirect flag [R=301,L] and the target has to include full protocol-plus-domain.

:: detour to test site for experimentation ::

Oh, you can use lookaheads in a RewriteRule. I thought it might be one of those things that only works in a RewriteCond. So your existing first attempt should work fine, with a couple of tweaks:

RewriteRule ^sand(?!boxes) https://www.example.com/sandboxes [R=301,L]

That's assuming you are simply redirecting some pages. If so, your .*$ part isn't needed, since nothing is to be captured.

If you're getting requests for /sandboxes.html or /sandboxes.php or /sandboxesmore-stuff-here, you'll need a closing anchor within the lookahead itself:

^sand(?!boxes$)

[Lucas]

Thank you!

This works for requests to /sand (even without the "https://www.example.com"):

RewriteRule ^sand(?!boxes) https://www.example.com/sandboxes [R=301,L]

but neither of the following work for /sandboxes.html or /sandboxes.php or /sandboxesmore-stuff-here:

RewriteRule ^sand(?!boxes$) https://www.example.com/sandboxes [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^sand(?!boxes)$ https://www.example.com/sandboxes [R=301,L]

[lucy24]

but neither of the following work for

Note the difference in the two. In the first, the closing anchor is within the lookahead, meaning that it is supposed to work on any request for
/sandwhatever
except specifically
/sandboxes (and nothing more)

In the second, the closing anchor is outside the lookahead which in turn means the lookahead is irrelevant, because the rule only applies to requests for
/sand (and nothing more)

even without the "https://www.example.com"

The example.com part is in the target, so it has no effect on whether the pattern is recognized. In targets, you always give the full protocol-plus-domain: http or https, with or without www, depending on your specific site.

When you are testing the rule, replace 301 with 302 (or just say [R,L] without a number) so you don't have to keep refreshing. This is because your browser caches a 301 response, but doesn't cache a 302. ("Oh, this is the same request he made five minutes ago. I remember I got a 301 back then, and 301 means Permanent Redirect, so I'll just proceed directly to the thing I was redirected to five minutes ago.") Then when you're sure of the rule, change the 302 to 301.