How can I create user-friendly URLs using .htaccess?

Creating Pretty URLs with .htaccess

Question: How can I transform URLs with multiple parameters into clean, readable formats using .htaccess?

Answer:

To create pretty URLs with .htaccess, you can utilize rewrite rules. Here's how:

1. Rewrite Rule for Single Parameter:
   To transform URLs like http://localhost/index.php?user=1 into http://localhost/user/1 using .htaccess, you can implement the following:

   <code class="htaccess">Options +FollowSymLinks
   RewriteEngine On
   
   RewriteRule ^user/(.*)$ ./index.php?user=</code>

2. Rewrite Rule for Multiple Parameters:
   To convert URLs like http://www.yourwebsite.com/index.php?user=1&action=update into http://www.yourwebsite.com/user/1/update:

   <code class="htaccess">Options +FollowSymLinks
   RewriteEngine On
   
   RewriteRule ^user/([0-9]*)/([a-z]*)$ ./index.php?user=&action=</code>

   • Parentheses enclose groups for later retrieval using $1, $2, etc.
   • [0-9]* captures any numbers.
   • [a-z]* captures any characters.

3. Accessing Parameters in PHP:

   In PHP, you can retrieve the captured parameters:

   <code class="php"><?php 
   echo "user id:" . $_GET['user'];
   echo "<br>action:" . $_GET['action'];
   ?></code>

4. Additional Considerations:

   • (.*) can accept almost anything, making it less secure than specific regular expressions like [0-9]*.
   • Groups allow for a more organized and controlled rewrite process.

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