Why are these mod_rewrite rules not working? - apache

Question

I have an .htaccess file that looks like the following:
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.+?)/(\d+?)/?$ index.php?cmd=$1&num=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.+?)/?$ index.php?cmd=$1 [L]
</IfModule>
Basically, I'm trying to write an API that can handle requests like get_all/ or get/123/.
The problem is, when I try to go to either of the above URLs, the cmd parameter is always set to index.php and the num parameter is not set at all.
If I comment out either of the RewriteRule lines, then requests work for the remaining, uncommented out RewriteRule, but I need to be able to handle both cases.
I am aware of the looping that occurs with mod_rewrite, but in this case, I have no clue how to stop it. I can't even understand why the above rules are causing cmd to be set to index.php.
Can anyone please explain what is happening here and how to fix it?
Thank you.

Answer 1

Rules are behaving because RewriteCond is only applied to very next RewriteRule. Due to this your last RewriteRule is running without conditions and hence running twice by mod_rewrite loop.
Use this code to fix it:
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.+?)/(\d+?)/?$ index.php?cmd=$1&num=$2 [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.+?)/?$ index.php?cmd=$1 [L]
</IfModule>
If you want to avoid repetition of Rewriteond then use:
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
# skips files and directories from rewrite rules
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule ^(.+?)/(\d+?)/?$ index.php?cmd=$1&num=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.+?)/?$ index.php?cmd=$1 [L]
</IfModule>