Is my error in htaccess or PHP

My data is not feeding as expected.

[calvinmicklefinger]

I have the following code in my template --

<?
// Start the session and register the variables
SESSION_START();
header("Cache-control: private");
SESSION_REGISTER("EmptyField");
SESSION_REGISTER("Affiliate");
SESSION_REGISTER("LandingPage");
SESSION_REGISTER("CurrentPage");

$URL_data = explode("/", getenv("REQUEST_URI"));

// Get tracking information form the URL array
// Set Affiliate number
if ($URL_data[1]=="")
{
$_SESSION['Affiliate']="10000" ;
}
else
{
$_SESSION['Affiliate'] = $URL_data[1] ;
}

if ($LandingPage == "")
{
$_SESSION['LandingPage'] = $URL_data[2] ;
}

$_SESSION['CurrentPage'] = $URL_data[2] ;

// Write header redirect to appropriate link if $CurrentPage has "qx" in it
if (substr($CurrentPage, 0, 2) == "qx")
{ include '/var/www/html/php/ref.php'; }

// Include page sought if available
if(file_exists('/var/www/html/php/' . $CurrentPage . '.php'))
{
include '/var/www/html/php/' . $CurrentPage . '.php' ;
}
else
{
include '/var/www/html/php/main.php'; $CurrentPage='main';
}
?>

and the following in my htaccess --

DirectoryIndex ./php/content.php # index.htm # cgi-bin/y/d.cgi/?index-10000

# Start your engines
RewriteEngine on

# Set up the paths to follow
Options +FollowSymlinks -Indexes
RewriteBase /

# Enable access to Site Manager
ReWriteRule ^manager$ manager [L]

# Restrict Access to site resources images, etc.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER}!^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER}!^http://(www\.)?payclerk\.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif¦jpe?g¦png¦bmp)$ - [F,NC,L]
RewriteRule ^\.htaccess$ - [F]

# Allow Perl Scripts to run
RewriteRule ^cgi-bin/y/d.cgi/?([a-z]+)-([0-9]+)$ - [NC,L]

# Allow Properly formatted URL to access content
RewriteRule ^([a-z0-9]{5})/([a-z0-9]+)/?$ ./php/content.php [NC,L]

# Allow Improperly formatted URL to access content and assign default AFF_NUM
ReWriteRule ^([a-z0-9]+)/?$ [mydomain.com...] [NC,R=301,L]

When I type in the URL
[mydomain.com...]
or
[mydomain.com...]
All works well and the correct variables are assigned where needed.

However, when I type in the URL
[mydomain.com...]
an incorrect variable is assigned and I get the page
[mydomain.com...]
where it should be
[mydomain.com...]

(Note: the number is a source tracking identifier much like .com?id=10000 or .com?id=10015)

I think my error is in the PHP I have written. Can anyone spot my error?

Many thanks for your help.

[ironik]

this rule in your .htaccess file is causing the problem. It doesn't know that the number you're entering should be handled by your content.php file

ReWriteRule ^([a-z0-9]+)/?$ [mydomain.com...] [NC,R=301,L]

If you really need to change the URL when it doesn't have the right format you should perhaps try something like:

ReWriteRule ^([a-z0-9]+)/?([^a-z0-9]+)$ [mydomain.com...] [NC,R=301,L]

That should default anything without a second argument, but it's probably going to conflict with something if you want to start adding extra arguments to the string.

[calvinmicklefinger]

Thanks Ironik,

Thanks for identifying the rule that was causing the problem. It helped me know where to make a correction, which I did by changing 10000 to $1. However the additional change you proposed created an error (Forbidden - you don't have permission)

ReWriteRule ^([a-z0-9]+)/?$ [mydomain.com...] [NC,R=301,L] gave me the correct result.

ReWriteRule ^([a-z0-9]+)/?([^a-z0-9]+)$ [mydomain.com...] [NC,R=301,L] gave the error.

Perhaps there is something else that causes the double variable to fail, so I'll just stick with the version that now works until it fails.

Again thanks, I couldn't see the forest for the trees.

[ironik]

Maybe enclose the entire rule in parenthesis?

ReWriteRule ^(([a-z0-9]+)/?([^a-z0-9]+))$ [mydomain.com...] [NC,R=301,L]

Can be sure though, I have no way of testing at the moment.