How to redirect my deleted links - apache

Question

i have my site where in pas i have a article directory but now i have deleted that article directory and google webmaster is shoing those links as not found and its a negative impact on my search results.
pls help me to redirect all links like this
http://www.mydomain.com/article/arts-entertainment/bradley-spalter-songs-getting-past-emotionally-charged-barriers/
to
http://www.mydomain.com
Current .htaccess file:
## EXPIRES CACHING ##
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/png "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/css "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/html "access 1 day"
ExpiresByType text/plain "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/pdf "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/javascript "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access 1 month"
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access 1 month"
ExpiresDefault "access 15 days"
</IfModule>
## EXPIRES CACHING ##
Options -MultiViews -Indexes +FollowSymlinks
RewriteCond %{http_host} ^mydomain.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.mydomain.com/$1 [R=301,NC]
RewriteRule ^golmagico/(.*)$ en/index.php?title=$1 [PT,L,QSA]
<IfModule mod_security.c>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</IfModule>
ErrorDocument 401 /default_error.php
ErrorDocument 402 /default_error.php
ErrorDocument 403 /default_error.php
ErrorDocument 404 /default_error.php
<IfModule mod_php5.c>
php_value register_globals 0
php_value magic_quotes_gpc 0
php_value session.auto_start 0
php_value safe_mode 0
</IfModule>
<IfModule sapi_apache2.c>
php_value register_globals 0
php_value magic_quotes_gpc 0
php_value session.auto_start 0
php_value safe_mode 0
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^detailed/recent/?([^/\.]+)?/?$ video.php?category=recent&page=$1&viewtype=detailed
RewriteRule ^detailed/viewed/?([^/\.]+)?/?$ video.php?category=viewed&page=$1&viewtype=detailed
RewriteRule ^detailed/recentviewed/?([^/\.]+)?/?$ video.php?category=recentviewed&page=$1&viewtype=detailed
RewriteRule ^detailed/discussed/?([^/\.]+)?/?$ video.php?category=discussed&page=$1&viewtype=detailed
RewriteRule ^detailed/favorites/?([^/\.]+)?/?$ video.php?category=favorites&page=$1&viewtype=detailed
RewriteRule ^detailed/rated/?([^/\.]+)?/?$ video.php?category=rated&page=$1&viewtype=detailed
RewriteRule ^detailed/featured/?([^/\.]+)?/?$ video.php?category=featured&page=$1&viewtype=detailed
RewriteRule ^detailed/random/?([^/\.]+)?/?$ video.php?category=random&page=$1&viewtype=detailed
RewriteRule ^recentviewed/?([^/\.]+)?/?$ video.php?category=recentviewed&page=$1
RewriteRule ^videos/?([^/\.]+)?/?$ video.php?category=recent&page=$1
RewriteRule ^recent/?([^/\.]+)?/?$ video.php?category=recent&page=$1
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript text/css text/html text/xml
</IfModule>

Answer 1

Try putting this in your .htaccess
ErrorDocument 404 http://www.mydomain.com
it'll redirect all 404's to your domain.
or you can try:
RewriteRule ^articles/.*?$ / [NC]
to redirect all requests to the articles folder to root

Answer 2

Enable mod_rewrite
Enable .htacccess
Create a .htaccess file under DOCUMENT_ROOT
and place this code in there:
Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
# Turn mod_rewrite on
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^article/ / [NC,L,R=301]
R=301 will tell Google and other search bots that all the links starting with /article/ have permanently moved to / (home page) and you will not have any negative impact on your rankings.