but, i want to Forward mydomain.com to www.mydomain.com

Please let me know...

[mubarak_zeb]

many of my visitors enters h ttp://mydomain.com
please is there any .httaccess with which the visitors will get to h ttp://www.mydomain.com

thanks.. n advance

[kevinpate]

This works for me just fine (changing 'example.com' to the actual domain of course 8^)

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}!^www.example.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ [example.com...] [R,L]

[edited by: heini at 12:03 pm (utc) on Dec. 25, 2003]
[edit reason] examplified, thanks! [/edit]

[mubarak_zeb]

Can u please tell me, where to put .htaccess

in the www or in other directory!

[jdMorgan]

mubarak_zeb,

Put your .htaccess file wherever your site's main "index.html" file is. You can put .htaccess files in whatever directory they are needed, but in the case of domain redirection, this needs to be "at the top" of your site's directory structure.

Also, posting code on this board removes a critical space between the "}" and "!" in the 2nd line of code posted above (the work-around is to type two spaces -- one is removed & one remains). In addition, to avoid problems with search engines, I'd strongly suggest using a 301-Moved Permanently redirect, specified by "R=301" in the RewriteRule flags.

The literal "." characters in the RewriteCond pattern should be escaped by preceding them with a "\" character as shown.

You may also need to add

Options +FollowSymLinks

to the beginning, depending on your server configuration.

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.example\.com
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Jim

[edited by: jdMorgan at 5:52 am (utc) on Dec. 25, 2003]

[mubarak_zeb]

i have putted that near to Index.html, but it does not work, i can still see mydomain.com without www

:'(

please helpp...

[robert adams]

IF you can get to your site with and without the www, then what is the problem? You don't need htaccess, it should work with or without www.
luck,
robert

[bill]

Robert, please take the time to read through the thread you posted in 3 minutes prior to this [webmasterworld.com]. We explained some of the benefits of this approach.

[Gene]

Here's a simple solution that I use... to eliminate the WWW; to INSERT it, keep reading.

Whether someone enters foo.com or www.foo.com, my server searches for index.html in the root directory.

However, the ACTUAL filename of my homepage is home.html

So I created a file named index.html with NOTHING IN THE BODY. Only the following code between the HEAD tags...

<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="0; URL=http://foo.com/home.html">

So now, everyone is re-directed to [foo.com...]

No more WWW.

~Gene

Of course, if you DO want people to get the WWW, then insert that in the URL of the meta tag.

[jdMorgan]

The problem with that is that a meta-refresh invokes a 302-Moved Temporarily redirect. Therefore, it will not tell the search engines to 'standardize' on the domain name you are redirecting to, and they will not update their listings of your site or merge your link-popularity or PageRank. As stated above, "...I'd strongly suggest using a 301-Moved Permanently redirect..."

Jim

[robert adams]

Robert, please take the time to read through the thread you posted in 3 minutes prior to this. We explained some of the benefits of this approach.

I still don't understand what the problem is. If you type in www.mydomain.com or mydomain.com, it will go to the same place. there is no redirect necessary. If you put a web page (index.html)in your root directory at mydomain.com, then someone types in www.mydomain.com they will see that index.html file, if they type in just the mydomain.com (without the www) they will see the very same index.html file.
There is not one directory for www and one directory for no www. It is all the same server and the same root directory.
luck,
robert

[MatthewHSE]

In my case, it has to do with a ton of .cgi scripts I use that work best without the www. (Don't ask me why; that's just what the programmers tell me.) I wanted to eliminate the w's on a site-wide basis for the sake of consistancy. There is also the very important issue of branding, plus SE benefits to using a 301 redirect for www.domain.com to domain.com.

Plus, my domain name is a pretty long one (it's obviously getting much harder to find a short one anymore) and eliminating the w's makes it quicker to tell people where to go to find us online.

[robert adams]

I am going to beat this horse once more and if I am dead wrong, somebody hit me upside the head or something.

It doesn't matter because yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com are the same thing, there is no difference.
If search engines see them as two different websites, I can see where that might make a difference. But you don't need a redirect or anything. Almost all servers online will let you access the domain with or without the www. The domain name without the www is not a separate domain or even a separate directory,or a separate web page, it is the same exact place.
Therefore, the search engines couldn't possibly see it as "duplicate content" it is the same page.

OK, I'm through now.
Happy New Year everyone,

robert