Commonly Used htaccess Code

A lot of commonly used htaccess code snippets for use with the Apache Web Server.

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Note 1: You may not need Options FollowSymlinks as it's commonly set by serverwide config file, already.

Note 2: You need RewriteEngine On only once in the .htaccess file.

The fix for Missing trailing slash problems

If you have 'www' dropping from the URL or asked twice for the password, this is the fix. It happens when you enter the URL of a directory without trailing slash and your domain name contains 'www'. ex. http://www.example.com/subdir <== No slash at the end. Generally, you should ALWAYS put a slash after a directory name. But some robots and links don't follow this practice, and you may want to use this fix. In short, you only need this code if you use 'www.' for your domain name. I prefer URL without 'www', these days, as it's shorter and easier.

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^/*(.+/)?([^.]*[^/])$ http://%{HTTP_HOST}/$1$2/ [L,R=301]
 
#If you want to cover both http and https:
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond s%{HTTPS} ^((s)on|s.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^/*(.+/)?([^.]*[^/])$ http%2://%{HTTP_HOST}/$1$2/ [L,R=301]
#Note: These codes are very efficient compared to the code
#with '-d' check,  but they won't work with directories that have a dot (period) in it.
# (ex. /a_directory.name/)

Forcing www for your domain name

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www.|$) [NC]
RewriteRule ^ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
 
#If you want to cover both http and https:
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}//s%{HTTPS} ^([^.]{4,}|[^w.]?[^.][^w.]?[^.]?[^w.]?)..*//((s)on|s.*) [NC]
RewriteRule ^ http%3://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

Combined code for Missing trailing slash problems and Force www

It may look complicated, but this code reduce the wasteful redirect to your site.

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI}\/%{HTTP_HOST}/www. ^/+(.+/)?[^.]*[^/]\(/)(([^.]{4,}|[^w.]?[^.][^w.]?[^.]?[^w.]?)..+/(www.)|.*)$ [OR,NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}/www. ^(/)?(#)?(/)?(([^.]{4,}|[^w.]?[^.][^w.]?[^.]?[^w.]?)..+/(www.))$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ http://%6%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI}%2 [L,R=301]
 
#If you want to cover both http and https:
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI}\/%{HTTP_HOST}/www.//s%{HTTPS}
^/+(.+/)?[^.]*[^/]\(/)(([^.]{4,}|[^w.]?[^.][^w.]?[^.]?[^w.]?)..+/(www.)|.*)//((s)on|s.*)$ [OR,NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}/www.//s%{HTTPS}
^(/)?(/)?(([^.]{4,}|[^w.]?[^.][^w.]?[^.]?[^w.]?)..+/(www.))//((s)on|s.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ http%7://%5%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI}%2 [L,R=301]

Force to remove www from your domain name

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.(.*)$ [NC] RewriteRule ^ http://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
 
#If you want to cover both http and https:
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}//s%{HTTPS} ^www.(.*)//((s)on|s.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ http%3://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

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Reader Comments

1. luke ~July 22, 2010 @ 7:03 am

   the expression for forcing www (where http AND https are wanted) does not work - it redirects a www.example.com to www.www.example.com any ideas on why that's broken?
2. Steven ~May 18, 2010 @ 5:18 pm

   I'm a relative regex noob, so hope this doesn't sound too stupid: Under "Forcing www for your domain name" is this pattern:

   RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www.|$) [NC]

   AFAIK, the pipe | represents OR, ^ is the beginning of the string, and $ is the end of the string. So

   ^(www.|$)

   means "begins with 'www.' or begins with the end". How could a request string that reaches my server ever "begin with the end" (i.e. be empty)? Why test for this?
3. Eapen ~April 27, 2010 @ 7:58 am

   Removing trailing slashes is easier IMO RewriteRule ^(.+)/$ /$1 [R=301,L]
4. Alan ~March 6, 2010 @ 11:20 am

   The "Combined code for Missing trailing slash problems and Force www" does not work. The seperate options do. Is it much worse just joining the two code together? Please can you fix the combined code! Cheers.
5. Colin ~October 26, 2007 @ 3:57 pm

   This is great info, but why can I not find on the internet nor make it work myself to REMOVE trailing slashes? I have a .htaccess rewrite that makes nice short URLs, removes the www, and I want it to remove trailing slashes too.

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