Question

I’m currently using the apache code:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
# Categories + Page:
RewriteRule ^([a-z\-]+)/([a-z\-]+)$ /index.php?category=$1&page=$2
RewriteRule ^([a-z\-]+)/([a-z\-]+)/$ /index.php?category=$1&page=$2
# Categories:
RewriteRule ^([a-z\-]+)$ /index.php?category=$1
RewriteRule ^([a-z\-]+)/$ /index.php?category=$1

which turns my urls from:
example.com?category=software&page=mobile
into
example.com/software/mobile/

Which works fine, and the php file is able to $_GET[‘category’] fine; however, for some reason, it does not recognize the $_GET[‘page’]; it just results in it being empty every time.

I’m not the best when it comes to Apache code, so would anyone be able to tell me where I went wrong with it?

The code I’m using for php to get the variables is simply:

$category = $_GET['category'];
$page = $_GET['page'];

Also, if anyone could help me optimize it so that it could work for any number of parameters, that would be even better.

Thanks!

Answer 1

RewriteRule ^([a-z\-]+)/([a-z\-]+)$ /index.php?category=$1&page=$2 [PT,L,QSA]
RewriteRule ^([a-z\-]+)/([a-z\-]+)/$ /index.php?category=$1&page=$2 [PT,L,QSA]
# Categories:
RewriteRule ^([a-z\-]+)$ /index.php?category=$1 [PT,L,QSA]
RewriteRule ^([a-z\-]+)/$ /index.php?category=$1 [PT,L,QSA]

Adding QSA may help

When the replacement URI contains a query string, the default
behavior of RewriteRule is to discard the existing query string, and
replace it with the newly generated one. Using the [QSA] flag causes
the query strings to be combined.

Consider the following rule:

RewriteRule /pages/(.+) /page.php?page=$1 [QSA]

With the [QSA] flag, a request for /pages/123?one=two will be mapped
to /page.php?page=123&one=two. Without the [QSA] flag, that same
request will be mapped to /page.php?page=123 – that is, the existing
query string will be discarded.