passing directory names to a script

[dirkbonenkamp]

Hi all,

I want a script to take care of non-existent directory names on a server, instead of getting a 404. Example:

say some requests:

www.domain.com/directory

and the directory 'directory' doesn't exists, a script should be called and some variable (containing directory) should be passed to it.

I vaguely remeber that there was / is a php function for this behaviour, but I'm not sure.

Is there a php function for this, of should I tweak apache?

I'm using php 4.3.x on apache 1.3 (RH linux 7.2)

TIA!

Dirk

[cyclops]

create a .htaccess file in your document-root (e.g. www.example.com/)

put this directive in it :
ErrorDocument 404 /name_of_error_handling_script.php
this script will now handle all 404 errors, based on your logic in the script

if .htaccess excists, just add the line
HTH

[dirkbonenkamp]

First off all, thanks for your reply cyclops!

Good straightforward solution, had looked over it myself.

Got it working now, but I also need the requested name, so I can use it in my script. So if someone requested "directory" I need to know that.

HTTP_REFERER is empty, so I can't use that...

Any ideas?

TIA,

Dirk

[cyclops]

you need to fetch the $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]
this is the location of the requested URL

because you redirect to the error_handler.php when there is a 404, the error_handler.php 'virtually' is the requested file

so when an user requests www.example.com/not/a/valid/dir
the $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] will be /not/a/valid/dir

HTH