mod_rewrite problems

showing the url

[penfold25]

ok the problem is this, ive read the introduction and some other tutorials about mod_rewrite but for some particular reason cannot find the answer to this question

eg
rewriteRule ^subcat1/subcat25/$ /search.php?categorry-25

when i go through the directory structure firstly through homepage. I click on subcat1, and it displays other subcatergorys.

But the URl i observe in this directory till /search.php?categorry-25,this because it is run on the fly dynamically with phP, how can i make it appear subcat1/subcat25 instead?

it works fine if i type in directly
www.domain/subcat1/subcat25/
that goes to /search.php?categorry-25

however when i do a search engine look up, the catergorys appear as /search.php?categorry-25?

Is there a way so that if it senses /search.php?categorry-25 anywhere it changes it refreshes or changes it straight away to subcat1/subcat25 without the user knowing.

i hope you can help

[killroy]

I think it should read:

rewriteRule ^/subcat1/subcat25/$ /search.php?categorry-25

matching the leadign slash.

SN

[killroy]

what I did to replace old addresses with new ones(which internally were still teh old ones was this:

rewriteRule ^subcat1/subcat25/$ /search.php?categorry-25

#First make sure you don't already have the new URLs 
 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/subcat1/(.*)$ 
#Then turn any remaining old URLs into new ones via a 301 redirect 
 RewriteRule ^/search.php?category-([0-9]+)$ /subcat1/subcat$1 [R=301,L] 
#Finally turn newm URLs internally back into the old ones: 
 RewriteRule ^/subcat1/subcat([0-9]+)$ /search.php?category-$1 [L] 

This should change all old addresses in the browser window and slowly cause Google to pick up th enew URLs, while internally the system works as usual.

SN

[penfold25]

hmmm ,not doing anyting at all just, not changing url in browser.
only doing just the simple mod re write, nothing from the info u gave me.

eg, on home page

16 directorys
all having /search.php?catergory1 or 2 or 3 or 4 to 16

can i make all those change to corresponding /catergory/ on the homepage w\so it loads up without ppl realising.?

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI}!^/subcat1/(.*)$

is this the main catergory
or subcatergory?

do catergory1/subcat1/

do backslashes make a difference

am using .htaccess
im doing this through php, what could be wrong.

COuld you explain a bit clearer what could be wrong?

[killroy]

couly ou perhaps explain clearer what you are tryign to do?

Can you lsit hte possible groups of URLs, and how you would like them to show?

Thanks,

SN

[penfold25]

ok for example
on the homepage there is listed business as the major catergory and under in smaller writing, the subcatergorys of it which are economics and finance.

Now if u go over "Business" it with the mouse you see the url at the bottom of explorer as /search/search.php?search=cat&category=1

now i would like this mouseover to appear as /business/ and /business/economics/ etc.

Then when i click at "business", it shows /search/search.php?search=cat&category=1 in the browser on the new page.
I want this too appear as /business/

On this same page, there are subcatergorys listed which are econimics and finance. These catergorys when u go over the mouse are shown as /search/search.php?search=cat&category=2 and /search/search.php?search=cat&category=3

I want these to also appear as /business/economics/

I hope its a little clearer what i want to do, can u help?

[killroy]

Well to cahnge the mouseover you have to change the URL sued in teh script and written to the page. You do have access to the scripts?

SN

[penfold25]

yes i do have access.

its a off the shelf directory software i bought, so i can do whatever really cos i got it hosted remotely.

but i have a search facility and when it comes up with results i have the catergories listed for the results, i want those catergorys to give old results to not be inconsistent.

So ye what could i do?

[penfold25]

any other help would be appreciated?

[killroy]

first you have to set up the mod_rewrite to convert new urls to old urls, as I've shown above. Then you have to change teh scripts to use the new urls.

SN

[penfold25]

ok
but how do i know whether its working or not

rewriteRule ^subcat1/subcat25/$ /search.php?categorry-25
that works fine.

what about these, how do i know these are working fine?

#First make sure you don't already have the new URLs RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI}!^/subcat1/(.*)$ #Then turn any remaining old URLs into new ones via a 301 redirect RewriteRule ^/search.php?category-([0-9]+)$ /subcat1/subcat$1 [R=301,L] #Finally turn newm URLs internally back into the old ones: RewriteRule ^/subcat1/subcat([0-9]+)$ /search.php?category-$1 [L]

[jdMorgan]

penfold25,

I'm off for the day to do other things, but you need to know a couple of things. First, in this rule:

RewriteRule ^/search.php?category-([0-9]+)$ /subcat1/subcat$1 [R=301,L]

the leading slash in the pattern will only match if this code is in httpd.conf. The rule won't work in .htaccess.

Second, if you want an external redirect - one that changes the URL in the visitor's browser and causes robots to note a change for their search index, then you must use the [R] flag, and you should use a full URL:

RewriteRule ^search.php?category-([0-9]+)$ http://www.yourdomain.com/dir/subcat1/subcat$1 [R=301,L]

In all cases, the [L] flag stops further processing for the request-in-progress, which reduces the chances for an infinite loop and saves processing time. It is most likely that this is what you want to do. I note this only in case you want one request to activate multiple rewriterules in sequence, with each rule changing the URL one step at a time.

HTH,
Jim

[killroy]

I'm sorry yabout this. I've never used .htaccess as I have full access to all my sites and server config. You'll have to check the docs for differences.n fact I highly recommend readign the mod_rewrite docs, they're not nearly as arcane as many seem to think.

SN

[penfold25]

still having problems in htaccess

i have two rules wrriten up

Options +FollowSymLinks
rewriteEngine on

rewriteRule ^search/sample.php?search=cat&category=31([0-9]+)$ /search/engineering$1 [R=301,L]

rewriteRule ^engineering/$ /search/hyperseek-sample.php?search=cat&category=31

The 2nd rule works why doesnt the first?

the url i want to show on the user browser should be
domain.com/engineering instead of domain.com/search/sample.php?....

should it be

rewriteRule ^www.domain/search/sample.php?search=cat&category=31([0-9]+)$ /search/engineering$1 [R=301,L]

?

[jdMorgan]

Two problems... First, you should provide a full URL with [R=301], and second, the QUERY_STRING is probably not visible as part of the URL in .htaccess context. So, you have to use RewriteCond [httpd.apache.org] with {QUERY_STRING} to test it and grab it. Something like this:

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^search=cat&category=31([0-9]+)$
RewriteRule ^search/sample\.php$ http://www.domain.com/search/engineering%1 [R=301,L]

Jim

[penfold25]

thanx for your help
but i been trying so many times, maybe there was a little syntax error that u put?
this is all i have
can someone make sure for this is for htaccess which is located in the
www.domain.com/search/

here it is the code in the search directory for .htaccess

Options +FollowSymLinks
rewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^search=cat&category=31([0-9]+)$
RewriteRule ^search/sample\.php$ [domain.com...] [R=301,L]
rewriteRule ^engineering/$ /search/sample.php?search=cat&category=31

when i type i want it to go from
www.domain/search/sample.php?search=cat&category=31
this is on my homepage to go to when i click it to go to
www.domain/engineering

help anyone please

[jdMorgan]

penfold25,

If you want to put this code in subdirectory "search", then "search" cannot be included in the 1st RewriteRule, as it will have been stripped off by then:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^search=cat&category=31([0-9]+)$
RewriteRule ^sample\.php$ http://www.domain.com/search/engineering%1 [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^engineering/$ /search/sample.php?search=cat&category=31

The second rule may not work as expected if you place this .htaccess code in subdirectory "search." It will only rewrite domain.com/search/engineering to domain.com/search/sample/php?search=cat&category=31
The solution is to put the code in post #15 in your web root directory .htaccess.

I encourage you to read the documentation and experiment with this until you get comfortable with it.

Ref: Introduction to mod_rewrite [webmasterworld.com]

HTH,
Jim

[penfold25]

i am sorry jdmorgan, the htaccess is actually in the public_html directory
it is actually in the root directory

i have tried it seriously over 50 times, and it only brings up

www.domain/search/sample.php?search=cat&category=31

doesnt change it at all

creating the directory is no problem just the first rule part seems to do nothing at all

is the order of the rules correct
?

[jdMorgan]

penfold25,

For the root directory:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^search=cat&category=31([0-9]+)$
RewriteRule ^search/sample\.php$ http://www.domain.com/search/engineering%1 [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^engineering/$ /search/sample.php?search=cat&category=31 [L]

Let's take this first rule apart:

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^search=cat&category=31([0-9]+)$

IF the querystring is "?search=cat&category=310" through "?search=cat&category=319" ...

RewriteRule ^search/sample\.php$ http://www.domain.com/search/engineering%1 [R=301,L]

AND the requested page is "www.domain.com/search/sample.php"
THEN redirect to [domain.com...] whatever category number was requested in the query string >

It strikes me that perhaps the rule you wrote with the categories was not what you wanted. Do your categories run from 310-319, or from 31-39? If the latter, then you need:

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^search=cat&category=(3[1-9]+)$

instead.

The second rule unconditionally and transparently redirects from "www.domain.com/engineering/" to "www.domain.com/search/sample.php?search=cat&category=31"
It will not redirect if the trailing slash is missing.

Jim

[penfold25]

hmm someone told me about adding
rewriteBase / in there somewhere
?
would that make it work?