mod redirect and rewrites ( Part 2 ) - apache

Question

Further to my previous questions i am getting my self into a mess, so i will try and lay my problem/s out as best as i can here.
I am tidying up my URL structure but have the problem that my urls are well indexed in Search engines, so i need to rewrite my urls while also redirect them.
With help earlier on a previous question i currently have the following in my .htaccess
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^mydomain.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.mydomain.com/$1 [r=301,nc]
# Rewrite all index.php to root: / ( with perm redirect )
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*/index.php
RewriteRule ^(.*)index.php$ http://www.mydomain.com/$1 [R=301]
# Rewrite A newly added section rewrite ( no redirect required )
RewriteRule ^products/digital_imaging/([^/]*)/([^/]*)$ /products/digital_xray.php?id=$1&product=$2 [L]
# Rewrite dental news article to neat nice url
RewriteRule ^dental_news/([^/]*)/([^/]*)$ news/dentistry_dental/article_detail.php?article=$1&title=$2&redirect [L]
#Conditional rewrite of old news article path to new one with 301 redirect
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/dental_news/
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} article=([0-9]*)&title=([^&]*)$
RewriteRule (.*) /dental_news/%1/%2? [L,R=301]
So, this is all working as expected, but i have another url that ends in a index.php that sometimes but not always has php variables, this i also need to rewrite and redirect, by trying to do it myself i am creating a conflict of some sorts, and its not working as expected.
The URL i need to rewrite & redirect with a 301 is below
http://www.mydomain.com/news/dentistry_dental/index.php?month=February&year=2011
With the previous index.php rule it currently displays as
http://www.mydomain.com/news/dentistry_dental/?month=February&year=2011
Half way there i guess... I need it to be the following
http://www.mydomain.com/dental_news/February/2011
Baring in mind that the url sometimes has no variables as below
http://www.mydomain.com/news/dentistry_dental/index.php
Which is currently with the index.php rule above is showing as
http://www.mydomain.com/news/dentistry_dental/
This needs to be
http://www.mydomain.com/dental_news/
So yes, i am totally crap at this stuff, it is entirely new to me, so if i can get this sorted ill be a very happy bunny indeed!
Thanks All
EDIT
Ok my current .htaccess looks as below.
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^mydomain.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.mydomain.com/$1 [r=301,nc]
# Rewrite all index.php to root: / ( with perm redirect )
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*/index.php
RewriteRule ^(.*)index.php$ http://www.mydomain.com/$1 [R=301]
RewriteRule ^products/digital_imaging/([^/]*)/([^/]*)$ /products/digital_xray.php?id=$1&product=$2 [L]
# Rewrite dental news article to neat nice url
RewriteRule ^dental_news/([^/]*)/([^/]*)$ news/dentistry_dental/article_detail.php?article=$1&title=$2&redirect [L]
#Conditional rewrite of old news article path to new one with 301 redirect
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/dental_news/
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} article=([0-9]*)&title=([^&]*)$
RewriteRule (.*) /dental_news/%1/%2? [L,R=301]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} month=([^&]*)&year=([^&]*)
RewriteRule (.*) /dental_news/%1/%2? [R=301]
RewriteRule news/dentistry_dental/$ /dental_news/ [R=301]
RewriteRule ^dental_news/$ /news/dentistry_dental/index.php [L]
As it stands with this, The following occurs
www.mydomain.com/news/dentistry_dental/index.php
-> www.mydomain.com/dental_news/
( ^ Correct )
www.mydomain.com/news/dentistry_dental/index.php?month=May&year=2011
-> www.mydomain.com/dental_news/April/2011
( ^ Wrong : Showing right path in url bar, but displaying article_detail.php instead of index.php with variables)
I am guessing that 2 of the rules are similar and one is picking up the index.php with year and month variables and sending to article_detail page. I might be wrong however and i have no idea how to fix.
EDIT #2
Current .htaccess as below.
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^dentalsupportuk.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.dentalsupportuk.com/$1 [r=301,nc]
# Rewrite all index.php to root: / ( with perm redirect )
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*/index.php
RewriteRule ^(.*)index.php$ http://www.dentalsupportuk.com/$1 [R=301]
RewriteRule ^products/digital_imaging/([^/]*)/([^/]*)$ /products/digital_xray.php?id=$1&product=$2 [L]
# Rewrite dental news article to neat nice url
RewriteRule ^dental_news/([0-9]*)/([^/]*)$ news/dentistry_dental/article_detail.php?article=$1&title=$2&redirect [L]
#Conditional rewrite of old news article path to new one with 301 redirect
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/dental_news/
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} article=([0-9]*)&title=([^&]*)$
RewriteRule (.*) /dental_news/%1/%2? [L,R=301]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} month=([^&]*)&year=([^&]*)
RewriteRule (.*) /dental_news/%1/%2? [R=301]
RewriteRule news/dentistry_dental/$ /dental_news/ [R=301]
RewriteRule ^dental_news/([a-zA-Z]*)/([0-9]*)$ news/dentistry_dental/index.php?month=$1&year=$2&redirect [L]
www.mydomain.com/dental_news/ is now rewriting to www.mydomain.com/dental_news/ which doesnt exist so 404 error ( should be rewriting to www.mydomain.com/news/dentistry_dental/ )
www.mydomain.com/dental_news/100/some-title is now rewriting as expected to www.mydomain.com/news/dentistry_dental/article_detail.php with the variables ( working )
www.mydomain.com/news/dentistry_dental/article_detail.php?article=100&title=some-title is redirecting as expected to www.mydomain.com/dental_news/100/some-title and displaying correctly ( working )
www.mydomain.com/news/dentistry_dental/index.php?month=May&year=2010 is redirecting but crashing out Firefox stating ( Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete. ) ( Not Working, is this some sort of loop causing this? )
www.mydomain.com/dental_news/July/2010/ the rewriting is giving me a 404 error.
So yes, im all over the place, maybe ive put in wrong order or something, but the more i mess the more im scared of breaking everything. Any ideas?
Regards
M

Answer 1

Try adding the follow two rules:
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} month=([^&]*)&year=([^&]*)
RewriteRule (.*) /dental_news/%1/%2? [R=301]
RewriteRule news/dentistry_dental/$ /dental_news/ [R=301]
I don't believe it causes any conflicts, and seems to cover the two scenarios you described.
EDIT
OK, so if I'm getting this correct, the URLs that are /dental_news/2968/Redefining-oral-hygiene-intervention should be rewritten to /news/dentistry_dental/article_detail.php with the proper querystrings. And then the /dental_news/April/2011 should be rewritten to /news/dentistry_dental/index.php. So...if that is the case, you should be able to add the following rule:
RewriteRule ^dental_news/([a-zA-Z]*)/([0-9]*)$ news/dentistry_dental/index.php?month=$1&year=$2&redirect [L]
It would also probably make sense to make the following update:
Current: RewriteRule ^dental_news/([^/]*)/([^/]*)$ news/dentistry_dental/article_detail.php?article=$1&title=$2&redirect [L]
Updated: RewriteRule ^dental_news/([0-9]*)/([^/]*)$ news/dentistry_dental/article_detail.php?article=$1&title=$2&redirect [L]
The difference there being that it is more specific, and the first regex group will only match a group of digits, and will help to avoid conflict with your rule that is rewriting to the index.php file.
EDIT 2
I believe I tested all of the URLs you provided, and they seem to be working now. There were a couple of redirect loops that we weren't accounting for. Hopefully this will help...
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^mydomain.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.mydomain.com/$1 [r=301,nc]
# Rewrite all index.php to root: / ( with perm redirect )
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*/index.php
RewriteRule ^(.*)index.php$ http://www.mydomain.com/$1 [R=301]
RewriteRule ^products/digital_imaging/([^/]*)/([^/]*)$ /products/digital_xray.php?id=$1&product=$2 [L]
RewriteRule dental_news/$ /news/dentistry_dental/?rewrite [L]
# Rewrite dental news article to neat nice url
# Protect from looping because of previous rules
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !rewrite
RewriteRule ^dental_news/([0-9]*)/([^/]*)$ news/dentistry_dental/article_detail.php?article=$1&title=$2&rewrite [L]
#Conditional rewrite of old news article path to new one with 301 redirect
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/dental_news/
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} article=([0-9]*)&title=([^&]*)$
RewriteRule (.*) /dental_news/%1/%2? [L,R=301]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/dental_news/
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} month=([^&]*)&year=([^&]*)$
RewriteRule (.*) /dental_news/%1/%2? [R=301]
# Protect from looping because of previous rules
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !rewrite
RewriteRule news/dentistry_dental/$ /dental_news/ [R=301]
# Protect from looping because of previous rules
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !rewrite
RewriteRule ^dental_news/([a-zA-Z]*)/([0-9]*)/?$ news/dentistry_dental/index.php?month=$1&year=$2&rewrite [L]
Hope this helps.