Question

1) I would like to create a rewrite rule that removes the file at the end of the URL if the file extension is PHP or (S)HTM(L). For example:

This: http://www.example.com/index.php
Becomes: http://www.example.com/

This: http://www.example.com/index.php?action=login
Becomes: http://www.example.com/?action=login

2) I would like to set up some URL redirect with my .htaccess so that if someone browse a certain path is automatically redirected to /index.php. For example:

This: http://www.example.com/classes/(index.php)
Redirected To: http://www.example.com/(index.php)

This: http://www.example.com/classes/class.php
Redirected To: http://www.example.com/(index.php)

This: http://www.example.com/classes/style.css
Redirected To: http://www.example.com/(index.php)

Any clue about it?
Many thanks!

Answer 1

For 1) you may invert your question, the job of mod-rewrite is to read dirty url and find the real file, so what you want is to use a false url (without index.php) and that mod-rewrite finds the index.php. Mod-rewrite will not modify your url, it’s your application code job (PHP?).

So let’s say your application is writing this url:

http://www.example.com/

The fact that apache will use

http://www.example.com/index.php

or

http://www.example.com/index.htm

or

http://www.example.com/index.html

to respond is not handled by mod-rewrite but simply by the Apache configuration directive

DirectoryIndex index.php,index.htm,index.phtml

For http://www.example.com/?action=login it should also work.

For 2): well it’s unclear. Do you always want to redirect people trying to access your classes directory? Then 2 things:

1. If this directory should’nt be accessed from the web put it outside of the web directory, nobody will see it, and if it only contain php classes PHp can include files which are not on the web directory. If it contains css and js files then it’s an error, redirecting them in the root will certainly not give them a js or a css

2. You do not need mod-rewrite to make simpel redirect, mod_alis, which is a module that you certainly have (99% of chances) procides the Redirect and RedirectMatch keywords so that you can write:

   RedirectMatch permanent /classes/.* http://www.example.com/

as always check this page: for rules that can be done easily without entering in the brain convolutions of mod-rewrite.