Apache - Changling browser URL address with .htaccess - apache

Question

I tried to change the browser url from localhost:8888/dev/test.php to localhost:8888/dev/testRewrite/ following the example of this question on S.O.
At first, I tried the provided code in that question
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^testRewrite/$ test.php [NC,L]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /test\.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^test.php$ /testRewrite/ [L,R=301]
and managed to change localhost:8888/test.php to localhost/testRewrite/
But applying the same to the sub-directory /dev/ resulted in no change.
I tried adding RewriteBase /dev/, moving the .htaccess to the sub-directory and even clearing the cache but it made no difference and the url remained http://localhost:8888/dev/test.php. So I think I have not understood the rewrite rule properly and am doing it the wrong way.
So what is the right way of doing this? Also does the .htaccess need to be in the sub-directory or it can be in the root directory?

Answer 1

After a little bit more tinkering and searching, I finally got what I needed
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} (\S*?)/test\.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1/test/ [L,R=301]
RewriteRule ^(.*)/test/ /$1/test.php [NC,L]
Regex substitution was the solution to my requirements

Answer 2

Considering your code
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^testRewrite/$ test.php [NC,L]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /test\.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^test.php$ /testRewrite/ [L,R=301]
The problem lies in the last line.
^test.php$
In Regex ^ symbolize the start of text and $ the end of text.
Thus ^test.php$ has only one exact match. "test.php" But what you to redirect is "/dev/test.php".
Thus your last line needs to be:
RewriteRule test.php$ /testRewrite/ [L,R=301]
If you want to be very exact, you could also make it
RewriteRule ^/dev/test.php$ /dev/testRewrite/ [L,R=301]
You might need to do the same in line 3.