(OT) Incompatible Apache Mod-Rewrite Rules

Question

The following Apache mod-rewrite rule works:
RewriteRule ^About/([a-zA-Z0-9_/-]+)/?$
About/index.php?bout=$1 [L]
It displays URL's like mysite/About/Webmaster and
mysite/About/Search.
I've finally figured out how to apply a mod-rewrite rule to
my site's
home page...
RewriteRule ^/?([-a-zA-Z0-9_/]+)/?$ /index.php?home=$1 [L]
It displays URL's like mysite/Arizona and mysite/Africa.
But when I combine them...
RewriteRule ^/?([-a-zA-Z0-9_/]+)/?$ /index.php?home=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^About/([a-zA-Z0-9_/-]+)/?$
About/index.php?bout=$1 [L]
The first rewrite rule appears to knock the second rule out
of action.
Does anyone know how to modify either rewrite rule to make
them compatible?
Thanks.

Answer 1

On 4/26/06 8:52 AM, "David Blomstrom" wrote:
> The following Apache mod-rewrite rule works:
>
> RewriteRule ^About/([a-zA-Z0-9_/-]+)/?$
About/index.php?bout=$1 [L]
>
> It displays URL's like mysite/About/Webmaster and
mysite/About/Search.
>
> I've finally figured out how to apply a mod-rewrite rule
to my site's
> home page...
>
> RewriteRule ^/?([-a-zA-Z0-9_/]+)/?$ /index.php?home=$1
[L]
>
> It displays URL's like mysite/Arizona and mysite/Africa.
>
> But when I combine them...
>
> RewriteRule ^/?([-a-zA-Z0-9_/]+)/?$ /index.php?home=$1
[L]
> RewriteRule ^About/([a-zA-Z0-9_/-]+)/?$
About/index.php?bout=$1 [L]
>
> The first rewrite rule appears to knock the second rule
out of action.
> Does anyone know how to modify either rewrite rule to
make them compatible?
>
> Thanks.
I'm not an expert on mod_rewrite, but you might be able to
get what you want
simply by reversing the order of the rules:
RewriteRule ^About/([a-zA-Z0-9_/-]+)/?$
About/index.php?bout=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^/?([-a-zA-Z0-9_/]+)/?$ /index.php?home=$1 [L]
In theory, that should redirect your /About pages, and the
[L] tells Apache
not to parse any more rewrite rules, so the first rule (which
looks like it
simply redirects *everything*) wouldn't come into play.
There's something about times when Apache still parses
rewrite rules even
after the [L] flag, though, so that might not work. Why don't
you see if
that works, and if it doesn't, we can look at it further.
Sonjay