htaccess issue causing internal server error too many redirects - apache

Question

so I am playing with .htaccess to have clean URLs in my codeigniter app.
in short, i am trying to:
1) remove index.php in urls (redirect permanent)
http://localhost/directory/index.php*
to
http://localhost/directory/*
http://my.domain.com/index.php*
to
http://my.domain.com/*
2) rewrite requests for certain controllers to index.php/[controller_name]
http://localhost/directory/controller1*
to
http://localhost/directory/index.php/controller1*
http://my.domain.com/controller2*
to
http://my.domain.com/index.php/controller2*
my htaccess file currently goes like this:
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
#RewriteBase /
# Redirect index.php
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET.*index\.php [NC]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} !/system/.*
RewriteRule ^(.*)index\.php((/)(.*))?$ /$1/$4 [R=301,L]
first issue:
this does not work for http://localhost/dir/index.php/controller1.
instead redirecting to http://localhost/dir/controller1, it redirects to http://localhost//controller1 ($1 return empty string?)
# Rewrite CI certain controllers
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} directory/(home|other_controller) [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)(home|other_controller)(.*)$ /$1index.php/$2$3 [NC,L]
second issue:
this does not work for http://localhost/dir/home gives internal server error (too many redirects).
but if I test added R=301 code, it successfully redirect to http://localhost/dir/index.php/home. but this is not my intention to redirect, I only need to rewrite it.
please advise.. :)

Answer 1

Try with this:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [L]
You can place this in the directory the bootstrap file (index.php) is in.
If you have FastCGI implementation, you need to add a question mark in the rewrite rule:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?/$1 [L]