flexibility in .htaccess for mod_rewrite rules - apache

Question

i would like to redirect my old php files to new seo friendly ones:
user.php?user=$var1&task=$var2 -> url/$var1/$var2
There are 2 problems. $var2 is not set every time, so i do not know how to deal that and the querystring is always added at the end.
I use the following redirect rule for testing (without $var2)
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^(.+)user\.php(.+)$
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} user=([^/]+)$
RewriteRule ^(.+)\.php$ %1 [R]
I get this:
url/$var1/?user=$var1
Second problem is the rewrite rule so that url/$var1 -> user.php?user=$var1
Without it i get a server error.
In the moment i tried this static one for testing, but this is not the only rule so that the Condition is wrong here
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^([^/]+)/?$ user.php?user=$1 [L]
How i get the correct results and more flexibility with the variables?
mod_rewrite is not my world in the moment, so i hope you can bring light in the dark.
Thx ruven

Answer 1

1) The way to prevent the query string at the end there is to add a ? at the end of the URL you rewrite to.
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET\ /user\.php
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} user=([^&=]+)$
RewriteRule ^user\.php %1? [R]
And in case both var1 and var2 are set it would be
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET\ /user\.php
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} user=([^&=]+)$
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} task=([^&=]+)$
RewriteRule ^user\.php %1/%2? [R]
Combine these (the second one first) and it should redirect as needed
2) Since this is a kind of 'catch all' URL you should put this as the last option in your .htaccess and redirect everything that is not a file or a directory to user.php and then let user.php figure out if the user exists, and if not respond with HTTP 404.
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([^/]+)$ user.php?user=$1 [L]
(I've removed the / at the end as it's not a good idea to have two URLs for the exact same content).