How to Rewrite URLs in PHP: `.htaccess` vs. PHP Approach?

URL Rewriting with PHP

Creating user-friendly URLs is an essential aspect of web development. Rewriting URLs involves transforming complex and verbose URLs into more concise and meaningful ones.

How to Convert a URL from 'picture.php?id=51' to 'picture.php/Some-text-goes-here/51'?

There are two primary methods for URL rewriting in PHP:

1. .htaccess with mod_rewrite

Create a .htaccess file in the root directory and add the following code:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^/?Some-text-goes-here/([0-9]+)$ /picture.php?id=

This instructs Apache to use mod_rewrite and rewrite URLs matching the specified pattern to the desired format.

2. PHP

In the .htaccess file, add:

FallbackResource /index.php

In index.php, you can implement URL parsing and rewriting using the following code:

$path = ltrim($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], '/');
$elements = explode('/', $path);

if (empty($elements[0])) {
    ShowHomepage();
} else {
    switch (array_shift($elements)) {
        case 'Some-text-goes-here':
            ShowPicture($elements);
            break;
        case 'more':
            ...
        default:
            header('HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found');
            Show404Error();
    }
}

This approach allows for more flexibility and can be used to implement complex URL parsing rules.

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