Apache htaccess for generic pretty URLs - apache

Question

I've been crazy trying to make my .htaccess work, and followed several examples with no success (of course modifying them because they were mostly static).
My problem, is that I need a generic htaccess to redirect to random php files (omiting the php extension), for example:
/xxxxx/ loads /xxxxx.php
/yyyyy/zz loads /yyyyy.php?param=zz
This is what I am trying with not success:
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^MYDOMAIN [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://MYDOMAIN/$1 [L,R=301,NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.*?)/?$ /$1.php [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^(.*?)/?(.+)$ /$1.php?param=$2 [NC,L]
</IfModule>
The problem is that I am getting 500 server error on any request.
If I comment the last rule, then:
/xxxx works correctly
/xxxx/ works correctly
/xxxx/yyyy does not work correctly (it is not rewriting the wanted
parameter).
Any help will be appreciated as I don't really know what is happening here.
P.S. I also tested to put a "stopping" rule in the beginning like:
RewriteRule ^.*\.php.*$ - [L]
And then I can have both rules without a 500 server error, just having a 404 in the parameters case.

Answer 1

You are getting 500 because your last rule is running without any conditions and causing infinite looping.
You can use these rules in your site root .htaccess:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/$1\.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.+?)/?$ $1.php [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/$1\.php -f
RewriteRule ^([^/]+)/([^/])/?$ $1.php?param=$2 [QSA,L]