Question

Is there a way to actively serve Apache’s default, built-in 404 page for a number of URLs using mod_rewrite? Not a custom error document, but a rule like

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/dirname/pagename
RewriteRule -- serve 404 page -----

I know how to build a PHP page that sends the 404 header and have mod_rewrite redirect all the URLs there but I would prefer a solution that is based on mod_rewrite only.

I just had the idea of redirecting to a non-existent address:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/dirname/pagename
RewriteRule .* /sflkadsölfkasdfölkasdflökasdf

but that would give the user the message “/sflkadsölfkasdfölkasdflökasdf does not exist” on the error page, which looks a bit unprofessional.

Answer 1

You can use the R flag on the RewriteRule to force a redirect with a given status code:

While this is typically used for redirects, any valid status code can be given here. If the status code is outside the redirect range (300-399), then the Substitution string is dropped and rewriting is stopped as if the L flag was used.

So this:

RewriteRule ^/?page\.html$ - [R=404]

would return the default 404 page for /page.html. Since this is a regexp, remember the escaping \. and anchoring $.

- is ignored (i.e. “the Substitution string is dropped”), but there still needs to be something there to keep the rule well-formed.