Question

I am trying to find out how to do something like this in htaccess:

#This address links to a place that does not exist
localhost/prefix/games/userid/game-name

to silently ([L], i guess) redirect to

#This folder has an index.php, so we're good!
localhost/prefix/protected/files/userid/game-name/

I realise I can have a link:

localhost/prefix/games/index.php?user=userid&title=game-name

And just have the index.php have some redirect put in…

But I don’t want the url paramaters visible in a link on my website… So I guess it really does need to be htaccess.

I’ve got to admit, I read that htaccess stuff and it goes right past my head because noone has explained in a way I understand.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT::///

RewriteEngine On        
RewriteBase /prefix

# stop directory listings
Options -Indexes 

#stops htaccess views
<Files .htaccess>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>

# remove .php; use THE_REQUEST to prevent infinite loops
    RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET\ (.*)\.php\ HTTP
    RewriteRule (.*)\.php$ $1 [R=301]         

# remove index
    RewriteRule (.*)/index$ $1/ [R=301]

# remove slash if not directory
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /$
    RewriteRule (.*)/ $1 [R=301]

# add .php to access file, but don't redirect
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/$
    RewriteRule (.*) $1\.php [L]    

# redirect game folders
    RewriteRule ^prefix/games/(.*)$ /prefix/protected/files/$1/ [R=301]  

Answer 1

You can have

RewriteRule ^prefix/games/(.*)$ prefix/protected/files/$1 [L]

to redirect all http://localhost/prefix/games/userid/game-name links to http://localhost/prefix/protected/files/userid/game-name

or, you can have

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} user=(.*)&title=(.*)$
RewriteRule ^prefix/games/index.php$ /prefix/protected/files/%1/%2? [L]

to move all links like: http://localhost/prefix/games/index.php?user=userid&title=game-name to http://localhost/prefix/protected/files/userid/game-name