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Asked: 2026-05-24T18:31:40+00:00

I have a rewrite rule on apache2 in the .htaccess file that is working

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I have a rewrite rule on apache2 in the .htaccess file that is working fine for the posts.php page. 

mysite.com/post.php?id_name=this-is-the-title-of-my-site

becomes 

mysite.com/this-is-the-title-of-my-site

I want to use the same rule for the cats.php page so that

mysite.com/cats.php?cat_label=articles

becomes

mysite.com/articles

I have used the same rule and changed the file name and the parameters but the rule for the cats.php page seems to fail and be overridden by the posts.php rule

I would prefer not to but I don’t mind changing the structure to become 

mysite.com/cats/articles

This is the .htaccess file that I am using at the moment

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ post.php?id_name=$1 [L,QSA]


RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ cats.php?cat_label=$1 [L,QSA]

All help is truly appreciated

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The flag [L] means “Last”, as in, when that rule is matched, it is the last rewrite rule tested. You need a way to distinguish the two types of redirects. Here’s two ways you might do that:

    (1) Have dashes in all of your post names, but not in your categories, so both of your given examples work as given:

    Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([^-]+)$ cats.php?cat_label=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ post.php?id_name=$1 [L,QSA]

    (2) Add a directory for the categories so that there isn’t any magical character stuff going on, which can lead to mistakes. You already confronted this possibility above. Here’s how it would look:

    Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^cats/(.*)$ cats.php?cat_label=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ post.php?id_name=$1 [L,QSA]

    In both cases, we match the more specific versions first, flagging them as [L]ast. Then we have the broad, catchall at the end.

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