[RESOLVED] mod_rewrite pointers...

[stevesweetland]

Ok.

Read through the documentation on this quite a lot, but before i go ahead and tackle the task, i want to make sure that what i want is actually possible.

I need to pick up the input ONLY if a valid file isnt supplied (ie. termsconditions.php IS valid, and wont need to be rewritten).

I would like to specify that my code works thus

www.myurl.com/season-department-store-section

It will pick up the string, split it and supply it to a script i specify, ie. shop.php... in this format

www.myurl.com/shop.php?seasonid=season&dept=department&storeid=store&sectionid=sectionid

Im not asking anyone to DO the work for me, and i HAVE been reading the manual, but mod_rewrite is something iv never done anything with before, and i dont really want to make a complete fool of myself by saying something is possible that just isnt.

Cheers for the help guys 🙂

[bogu]

This should be the rule for this:

RewriteRule ^(.*)-(.*)-(.*)-(.*)/*$ shop.php?seasonid=$1&dept=$2&storeid=$3&sectionid=$4 [L]

[stevesweetland]

you rock.

[stevesweetland]

ohkay... i didnt mention before... that in actual fact... there could be anything between one, to four variables, and i need to pick that up.

if there is one, then its just the first variable it needs to send, if two, then its the first two... im sure you get it.

[bogu]

RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9]*)/*$ shop.php?seasonid=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9]*)-([a-zA-Z0-9]*)/*$ shop.php?seasonid=$1&dept=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9]*)-([a-zA-Z0-9]*)-([a-zA-Z0-9]*)/*$ shop.php?seasonid=$1&dept=$2&storeid=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9]*)-([a-zA-Z0-9]*)-([a-zA-Z0-9]*)-([a-zA-Z0-9]*)/*$ shop.php?seasonid=$1&dept=$2&storeid=$3&sectionid=$4 [L]

I didnt test it, this is regular expresion (I'm not to good to that), maybe there is an easy way (aka better way) ...

If u want to rulez in mod_rewrite u should read some tutorial in regular expresion ...

[stevesweetland]

i would like to say, at this point, after reading through http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html, that regular expressions rock, but that they kill my brain and i feel like going to sleep now.

[stevesweetland]

what im now planning on doing, is posting anything that isnt a valid file call to a script which will parse the data and send it on to shop.php.... this should mean i could add variables at will... (without having to touch .htaccess again)

[stevesweetland]

just so you know... iv done it like this.

i know its not ideal, but its a solution.

if someone has a grand idea about how i can do it better, please give me a poke in the right direction.

the key is that 'normal' file requests have to work.... i cant have EVERY page request going through to shop.php.

RewriteRule ^(\.[a-zA-Z0-9]*)/*$ gateway.php?rcv=$1 [L]

im then letting gateway parse any data sent to it, and forward it on to shop.php.

[xblue]

I have not done this yet, but the RewriteCond-Section in Apache's documentation seems to indicate that you can actually test whether a file exists or not (which I understood is what you are after?)
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.1/mod/mod_rewrite.html#rewritecond
(scroll down to where -f or -s is explained)

I found an example for this in a German forum:

falls eine existierende Datei angefordert wurde, keine Rules anwenden

[do not apply rules when an existing file is requested]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f

"do nothing (no substitution)" und [and] Last rule

RewriteRule ^.* - [L]

[stevesweetland]

hmm... cant QUITE get what im after using the above.

i guess im gonna have to resort to multiple rewriterules... no problem.

thanks guys

(this is actually what i ended up doing, and it works spot on)