^i(.*)$ works but ^(.*)$ doesn't

why is the first character so imp

[AjiNIMC]

RewriteRule ^i(.*)$ /members/index.html works and shows /members/index.html content for index.html but when I write

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /members/index.html , it doesnt work and gives Internal server error.

What can be the possible error? I have not posted it with the other question as it looks different from the other problem.

Please help.

Thanks to everyone, Happy Xmas too
AjiNIMC

[jdMorgan]

The most likely cause of the server error is that you've defined an infinite loop. You need to explicitly tell mod_rewrite when to rewrite and when not to rewrite. So if you tell it to rewrite *everything* to /index.html, then it will also rewrite /index.html to /index.html -- creating an infinite loop.

# if NOT already rewritten to /members/index.html
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/members/index\.html$
# rewrite all requests to /members/index.html
RewriteRule (.*) /members/index.html [L]

should work better.

You should also be aware that you will rewrite robots.txt and all image, CSS, and external JS files to /members/index.html with this code, so think about what classes of files you really want to rewrite, and which you don't. Then you can write a rule-set based on whichever class is smaller or easier to define.

Jim

[AjiNIMC]

actually this is more related with cache systems and we want to disable cache systems if the user is logged in.

This is not going to infinite loop as firefox tells you if the redirection happens for more than a specified number.

I am also not using [R](redirect) so REQUEST_URI wont work as a check, I will have to check with Script_URI.

I am going to try this after christmas. A very happy Christmas to all webmastermaster members.

Special thanks to jdMorgan for the replies

[jdMorgan]

> I am also not using [R](redirect) so REQUEST_URI wont work as a check, I will have to check with Script_URI.

Erm... Don't confuse REQUEST_URI with THE_REQUEST. REQUEST_URI works fine to stop internal rewrite looping.

> This is not going to infinite loop as firefox tells you if the redirection happens for more than a specified number.

But of course, Firefox isn't involved here, since this is an internal rewrite loop, not a redirection loop.

Check your error logs...

Jim

[AjiNIMC]

Wow it worked. Thanks a lot Jim for the help.

Will this make any significant change in page loading time?

[jdMorgan]

Significant? - No, you should not notice any difference until you get over a hundred thousand hits a day.

Since it is an internal rewrite, you don't have the factor of the network time needed to tell the client to re-request the object, and for the client to do so.

Jim

[AjiNIMC]

Thanks Jim for the help.

Regards,
Aji

[AjiNIMC]

I need one more help.

How do I check whether the DirectoryIndex REQUEST_URI is a folder or not.

[AjiNIMC]

Now it is working,

I had to do this,

RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} ([[:print:]])userid([[:print:]])
# if NOT already rewritten to /members/index.html
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI}!^/members/index\.html$
# rewrite all requests to /members/index.html
RewriteRule (.*) /members/index.html [L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} ([[:print:]])userid([[:print:]])
# if it is a directory
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
# rewrite all requests to /members/index.html
RewriteRule (.*) /members/index.html [L]

Is there a better way I can use the [OR]

Thanks
Aji

[jdMorgan]

Well, try it and see...

RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} ([[:print:]])userid([[:print:]])
# if NOT already rewritten to /members/index.html
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI}!^/members/index\.html$ [OR]
# or if request exists as a directory
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
# rewrite all requests to /members/index.html
RewriteRule (.*) /members/index.html [L]

Jim