Question

I’m trying to transform this URL:

http://localhost/?q=foo&s=search

on this:

http://localhost/?q=+foo&s=search (i add a plus sign before the user query)

I tried with:

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^q=(.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /?q=\+%1 [R=301,L,NE]

But this generates:

http://localhost/?q=+++++++++++++++++++++foo

Any advice on how to add the plus sign before the query?

Answer 1

Two quick/easy options:

1. Add the + in the backend (PHP: $query = '+' . $_GET['q'];)

2. Add a param indicating the redirect and avoiding the redirect.

   # The example is untested, but the idea is to add an extra 
   # query parameter (rw=1). When the redirect comes back through, 
   # the redirect is not applied, as the '+' as already been 
   # put on the beginning.
   
   RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !&rw=1$ [NC]
   RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^q=(.*)$ [NC]
   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /?q=\+%1&rw=1 [R=301,L,NE]