htaccess

What is htaccess

[Seven]

I'm new to web design and have just posted my website. I've been looking over the posts and was wondering if anyone could explain to me what the htaccess file is for and how to use it.

[pendanticist]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld Seven. Be sure to read WebmasterWorld Welcome and Guide to the Basics. [webmasterworld.com]

Titles of previous posts found via site search [webmasterworld.com].

my first htaccess file [webmasterworld.com]

.htaccess how big? [webmasterworld.com]

These, and what others will contribute should get you started.

Pendanticist.

[wruk999]

Seven,

most common uses of the htaccess file are for re-directs etc.

But you can also use htaccess to password protect entire directories. You then use a .htpasswd file with usernames & encrypted passwords in.

This is quite a secure way of password-protecting directories, but will only run on Apache.

HTH,
William.

[jamesa]

The Apache web server has a configuration file where you can edit all the web server settings (httpd.conf). The .htaccess file is an invisible text file where you can override those configurations for a particular directory (and it's sub-directories) without having to edit the server's main config file. On a shared server users don't have access to the httpd.conf, so in that case the .htaccess file would be the only way to make any changes.