Two level url rewrite with mod_rewrite - apache

Question

I need something like this index.php?page=home to be /home
and
index.php?page=products&cat=chairs to be /products/chairs
What would be the mod_rewrite rule to achieve this?
Edited
I have other pages than home, so my full content of .htaccess file is now
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^([^/\.]+)/?$ index.php?page=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^/products(:/([^/]+))? /index.php?page=products&cat=$1 [L]
But when I navigate to /products/chairs I get a "Object not found" error.

Answer 1

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^/home/?$ /index.php?page=home [L]
RewriteRule ^/products(:/([^/]+))? /index.php?page=products&cat=$1 [L]
It rewrites both /home and /home/, both /products and /products/ (you didnt specify which was your intended behavior); beware that you will get an empty cat parameter in those cases.
EDIT: this is a tested .htaccess, with R=301 left on it to see rewriting result, with both .htaccess and index.php in same directory (webroot in my case):
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^([^/\.]+)/?$ index.php?page=$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^products/([^/]+)?/? index.php?page=products&cat=$1 [R=301,L]

Answer 2

Enable mod_rewrite and .htaccess through httpd.conf and then put this code in your .htaccess under DOCUMENT_ROOT directory:
Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
# Turn mod_rewrite on
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,}\s/+index\.php\?page=(products)&cat=([^\s]+) [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1/%2 [R=302,L]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,}\s/+index\.php\?page=(home)\s [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1 [R=302,L]
RewriteRule ^(products)/([^/]+)/?$ index.php?page=(products)&cat=$1 [L,QSA,NC]
RewriteRule ^(home)/?$ index.php?page=$1 [L,QSA,NC]
Change R=302 to R=301 after you verify it's working fine for you.