htaccess tips and tricks

1. How to apply 301 from one file to another file

Step 1: Add following code in your .htaccess file:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
Redirect 301  /file1.html   http://www.mywebsite.com/file2.html

The above code will permanently redirect file1.html to file2.html. So whenever a search engine or a visitor will look for file1.html, he will automatically be redirected to file2.html.

Step2: Replace ‘mywebsite’ by your website name and file1.html and file2.html by your file names.

Another example:

Redirect 301  /what-is-event.html  http://www.eventeducation.com/what-is-event.php

Note: If the following lines are already there in your .htaccess file, then don’t add them again:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On

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2. Converting  Dynamic URL into Static Looking  SEO friendly URL

How you can redirect:
http://www.example.com/productdescription.php?keyval=25&keyval2=62

to
http://www.example.com/whiteboard-accessories.php

Add following code in your .htaccess file:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond   % {QUERY_STRING}   ^keyval\=25\&Keyval2\=62$ [nc]
RewriteRule   ^productdescription.php$  http://www.example.com/whiteboard-accessories.php? [r=301, l]

Note: You need to put question mark (?) at the end of the substitution URL, otherwise query string will be appended at the end of the substitution URL.

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3. How to redirect index.php to the root

Step 1: Add following code in your .htaccess file:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*\/index\.phpl?
RewriteRule ^(.*)index\.php?$ http://www.mywebsite.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Step2: Replace ‘mywebsite’ by your website name

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How to redirect non-www to www using mod_rewrite module

Step 1: Add following code in your .htaccess file:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond  %{http_host}  ^mywebsite.com [nc]
rewriterule  ^(.*)$  http://www.mywebsite.com/$1 [r=301,nc]

Step2: Replace ‘mywebsite’ by your website name

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4. How to create Custom 404 page

Step1: Create a web page which you want to display as your custom 404 page say custom404.php

Step2:  Upload your webpage to the root directory.

Step3:  Add following code to your .htaccess file:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
ErrorDocument  404  http://www.mywebsite.com/custom404.php

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5. How to block an IP address from accessing your website

Add following code in your .htaccess file:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
Order  Deny, Allow
Deny from  61.16.153.67

If you want to block two or more IP addresses

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
Order  Deny, Allow
Deny from  61.16.153.67
Deny from  124.202.86.42

………………………………………….

6. How to resolve the Hot Linking Issue

Hot-linking means direct linking to your website file (images, videos etc). By preventing hot-linking, you can save your sever bandwidth.

Step1: Add following code in your .htaccess file:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(.+\.)?mywebsite\.com/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteRule .*\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|bmp|png|swf)$ – [F]

Step2: Replace ‘mywebsite’ by your website name.

Step3: Use hotlinking checker tool to find out whether your files (images,videos etc ) can be hot-linked or not.

Note: Don’t copy the code from this blog post straight to your .htaccess file. First copy it to the text file to remove the formatting. Otherwise the code may not work.

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