Question

Take mod_rewrite for Apache server.
I don’t fully understand why do I need both RewriteRules in this sample:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine on
    RewriteRule ^$ public/ [L]
    RewriteRule (.*) public/$1 [L]
</IfModule>

Originally found at this DIY MVC tutorial, it seems like ^$ and (.*) mean the same thing. And why do I need two [L]ast flags since the second is not supposed to fire, right?
I’m trying to deeper understand all the internal mechanics instead of just copying the working solution.

Answer 1

No, ^$ and .* don’t mean the same thing: the first matches only an empty input, the second will match anything — including an empty input. The second rule should be enough.

As to why there is [L] here, consider an empty request, and no [L]:

• the first rule will turn the request into public/;
• the second one will then trigger, and turn public/ into public/public/.