Subfolders and mod-rewrite - apache

Question

I need to alter this current re-write rule to accommodate for an admin folder. Here is my current mod-rewrite code:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([a-z]+?)/([a-z]+?)/(.*)$ index.php?model=$1&view=$2&params=$3 [L,NS]
I have this folder structure:
ROOT: http://www.domain.com/
ADMIN: http://www.domain.com/admin/
If the .htaccess file is in the "admin" folder it works correctly. I get:
URL: http://domain.com/admin/faq/edit/13/asc
(NOTE: http://domain.com/admin/.htaccess)
Array
(
[model] => faq
[view] => edit
[params] => 13/asc
)
But, when its in the root folder I get:
URL: http://domain.com/admin/faq/edit/13/asc
(NOTE: http://domain.com/.htaccess)
Array
(
[model] => admin
[view] => faq
[params] => edit/13/asc
)
I want the mod-rewrite to recognize that admin folder and is an actual directory and use a separate re-write rule.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Add
RewriteCond ^admin/
RewriteRule (your Rule) [L]
before the other condition. That should do the trick.
Another way would be to include the condition in the rule directly via
RewriteRule ^admin/(rest_of_regex)$ (regex_stuff) [L]

Answer 2

Add this to your root .htaccess:
RewriteCond ^admin/
RewriteRule (whatever rule you need for the admin folder) [L]
Add this right after the RewriteEngine On. The key point here is [L] which tells mod-rewrite to stop executing the rest of the rules if this one matches. If you need more than one rule for the admin folder, just add more RewriteRule statements, but remember to only add the [L] to the last one.
That should do it.