docs/manual/rewrite/flags.xml

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<manualpage metafile="flags.xml.meta">
<parentdocument href="./">Rewrite</parentdocument>

  <title>RewriteRule Flags</title>

<summary>
<p>This document discusses the flags which are available to the
<directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> directive,
providing detailed explanations and examples.</p>
</summary>

<seealso><a href="../mod/mod_rewrite.html">Module documentation</a></seealso>
<seealso><a href="intro.html">mod_rewrite introduction</a></seealso>
<seealso><a href="remapping.html">Redirection and remapping</a></seealso>
<seealso><a href="htaccess.html">Per-directory Rewrites</a></seealso>
<seealso><a href="vhosts.html">Virtual hosts</a></seealso>
<seealso><a href="rewritemap.html">Using RewriteMap</a></seealso>
<seealso><a href="avoid.html">When not to use mod_rewrite</a></seealso>
<seealso><a href="tech.html">Technical details</a></seealso>

<section id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
<p>A <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> can have
its behavior modified by one or more flags. Flags are included in
square brackets at the end of the rule, and multiple flags are separated
by commas.</p>
<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule pattern target [Flag1,Flag2,Flag3]
</highlight>

<p>Each flag (with a few exceptions) has a short form, such as
<code>CO</code>, as well as a longer form, such as <code>cookie</code>.
While it is most common to use
the short form, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the
long form, so that you remember what each flag is supposed to do.
Some flags take one or more arguments. Flags are not case sensitive.</p>

<p>Flags that alter metadata associated with the request (T=, H=, E=)
have no effect in <glossary ref="perdirectory">per-directory context</glossary>, when a substitution
(other than '-') is performed during the same round of rewrite processing.
</p>

<p>Presented here are each of the available flags, along with an example
of how you might use them.</p>
</section>

<section id="flag_quickref"><title>Flag Quick Reference</title>

<p>Flags can be combined: <code>[R=301,L]</code>, <code>[P,QSA]</code>,
<code>[E=VAR:val,L]</code>. This table groups them by purpose, ordered
by how commonly each is used.</p>

<table border="1" style="zebra">
<columnspec><column width=".12"/><column width=".22"/><column width=".38"/><column width=".28"/></columnspec>
<tr>
  <th>Flag</th>
  <th>Purpose</th>
  <th>Effect</th>
  <th>Common combos</th>
</tr>

<tr><td colspan="4"><em><strong>Flow Control</strong></em></td></tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_l">[L]</a></td>
  <td>Last rule</td>
  <td>Stop processing rules (this pass)</td>
  <td>[R=301,L]  [F]  [G]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_end">[END]</a></td>
  <td>Full stop</td>
  <td>Stop all rewrite processing (no re-entry in .htaccess)</td>
  <td>[R=301,END]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_s">[S=N]</a></td>
  <td>Skip</td>
  <td>Skip next N rules (if/else logic)</td>
  <td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_n">[N]</a></td>
  <td>Next (loop)</td>
  <td>Restart ruleset from the top (caution: loop risk)</td>
  <td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_c">[C]</a></td>
  <td>Chain</td>
  <td>Tie rule to the next; if this fails, skip chained rules</td>
  <td></td>
</tr>

<tr><td colspan="4"><em><strong>Redirection and Proxying</strong></em></td></tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_r">[R=code]</a></td>
  <td>Redirect</td>
  <td>External redirect (default 302). Consider Redirect/RedirectMatch for simple cases</td>
  <td>[R=301,L]  [R=302,L]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_p">[P]</a></td>
  <td>Proxy</td>
  <td>Reverse proxy to target (requires <module>mod_proxy</module>)</td>
  <td>[P,QSA]</td>
</tr>

<tr><td colspan="4"><em><strong>Access Control</strong></em></td></tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_f">[F]</a></td>
  <td>Forbidden</td>
  <td>Return 403 (implies [L])</td>
  <td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_g">[G]</a></td>
  <td>Gone</td>
  <td>Return 410 (implies [L])</td>
  <td></td>
</tr>

<tr><td colspan="4"><em><strong>URL / Query String</strong></em></td></tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_qsa">[QSA]</a></td>
  <td>Query string append</td>
  <td>Append original query string to substitution</td>
  <td>[QSA,L]  [P,QSA]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_qsd">[QSD]</a></td>
  <td>Query string discard</td>
  <td>Drop original query string entirely</td>
  <td>[R=301,QSD,L]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_b">[B]</a></td>
  <td>Escape backrefs</td>
  <td>Re-encode special chars in backreferences</td>
  <td>[B,PT]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_ne">[NE]</a></td>
  <td>No escape</td>
  <td>Don't escape special chars in output (pass #, ? through)</td>
  <td>[R=301,NE,L]</td>
</tr>

<tr><td colspan="4"><em><strong>Metadata and Handlers</strong></em></td></tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_e">[E]</a></td>
  <td>Set env var</td>
  <td>Set an environment variable</td>
  <td>[E=VAR:val,L]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_t">[T]</a></td>
  <td>MIME type</td>
  <td>Force content type</td>
  <td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_h">[H]</a></td>
  <td>Handler</td>
  <td>Force a content handler</td>
  <td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_pt">[PT]</a></td>
  <td>Pass through</td>
  <td>Pass result to next handler (needed with Alias/ScriptAlias)</td>
  <td>[PT,L]</td>
</tr>

<tr><td colspan="4"><em><strong>Cookie</strong></em></td></tr>
<tr>
  <td><a href="#flag_co">[CO]</a></td>
  <td>Set cookie</td>
  <td>Set an HTTP cookie on the response</td>
  <td>[CO=name:val:.domain,R=302,L]</td>
</tr>
</table>

</section>

<section id="flag_b"><title>B (escape backreferences)</title>
<p>The [B] flag instructs <directive
module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> to escape non-alphanumeric
characters before applying the transformation.</p>

<p><module>mod_rewrite</module> has to unescape URLs before mapping them,
so backreferences are unescaped at the time they are applied.
Using the B flag, non-alphanumeric characters in backreferences
will be escaped. For example, consider the rule:</p>

<p>For similar escaping of server variables, see
    the "escape" <a href="#mapfunc">mapping-function</a></p>


<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "^search/(.*)$" "/search.php?term=$1"
</highlight>

<p>Given a search term of 'x &amp; y/z', a browser will encode it as
'x%20%26%20y%2Fz', making the request 'search/x%20%26%20y%2Fz'. Without the B
flag, this rewrite rule will map to 'search.php?term=x &amp; y/z', which
isn't a valid URL, and so would be encoded as
<code>search.php?term=x%20&amp;y%2Fz=</code>, which is not what was intended.</p>

<p>With the B flag set on this same rule, the parameters are re-encoded
before being passed on to the output URL, resulting in a correct mapping to
<code>/search.php?term=x%20%26%20y%2Fz</code>.</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "^search/(.*)$" "/search.php?term=$1" [B,PT]
</highlight>

<p>Note that you may also need to set <directive
module="core">AllowEncodedSlashes</directive> to <code>On</code> to get this
particular example to work, as httpd does not allow encoded slashes in URLs, and
returns a 404 if it sees one.</p>

<p>This escaping is particularly necessary in a proxy situation,
when the backend may break if presented with an unescaped URL.</p>

<p>An alternative to this flag is using a <directive module="mod_rewrite"
>RewriteCond</directive> to capture against %{THE_REQUEST} which will capture
strings in the encoded form.</p>

<p>In 2.4.26 and later, you can limit the escaping to specific characters
in backreferences by listing them: <code>[B=#?;]</code>. Note: The space
character can be used in the list of characters to escape, but you must quote
the entire third argument of <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive>
and the space must not be the last character in the list.</p>

<highlight language="config">
# Escape spaces and question marks.  The quotes around the final argument 
# are required when a space is included.
RewriteRule "^search/(.*)$" "/search.php?term=$1" "[B= ?]"
</highlight>

<p>To limit the characters escaped this way, see <a href="#flag_bne">#flag_bne</a>
        and <a href="#flag_bctls">#flag_bctls</a></p>

<p>See <a href="tech.html#encoding">URL Encoding and Decoding</a> for
a full explanation of how Apache decodes URIs before pattern matching.</p>
</section>


<section id="flag_bnp"><title>BNP|backrefnoplus (don't escape space to +)</title>
<p>The [BNP] flag instructs <directive
module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> to escape the space character
in a backreference to %20 rather than '+'. Useful when the backreference
will be used in the path component rather than the query string.</p>

<highlight language="config">
# Escape spaces to %20 in the path instead of + as used in form submission via
# the query string
RewriteRule "^search/(.*)$" "/search.php/$1" "[B,BNP]"
</highlight>


<p>This flag is available in version 2.4.26 and later.</p>

<p>See <a href="tech.html#encoding">URL Encoding and Decoding</a> for
background on how encoding is handled in the rewrite pipeline.</p>
</section>


<section id="flag_bctls"><title>BCTLS</title>
<p>The [BCTLS] flag is similar to the [B] flag, but only escapes
control characters and the space character. This is the same set of
characters rejected when they are copied into the query string unencoded.
</p>

<highlight language="config">
# Escape control characters and spaces
RewriteRule "^search/(.*)$" "/search.php/$1" "[BCTLS]"
</highlight>

<p>This flag is available in version 2.4.57 and later.</p>

</section>

<section id="flag_bne"><title>BNE</title>
<p>The list of characters in [BNE=...] are treated as exclusions to the
characters of the [B] or [BCTLS] flags. The listed characters will not be
escaped.
</p>

<highlight language="config">
# Escape the default characters, but leave /
RewriteRule "^search/(.*)$" "/search.php?term=$1" "[B,BNE=/]"
</highlight>

<p>This flag is available in version 2.4.57 and later.</p>
</section>

<section id="flag_c"><title>C|chain</title>
<p>The [C] or [chain] flag indicates that the <directive
module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> is chained to the next
rule. That is, if the rule matches, then it is processed as usual and
control moves on to the next rule. However, if it does not match, then
the next rule, and any other rules that are chained together, are
skipped.</p>

<highlight language="config">
# Rewrite legacy product URLs to the new catalog app,
# and add a tracking parameter — but only for the rewritten ones.
RewriteRule "^/products/([0-9]+)$" "/catalog/item/$1" [C]
RewriteRule "^/catalog/(.*)$" "/catalog/$1?via=legacy" [QSA]
</highlight>

<p>Without the [C] flag, the second rule would also match requests
that arrive at <code>/catalog/</code> directly. The chain ensures the
second rule is only applied when the first rule matched.</p>

</section>

<section id="flag_co"><title>CO|cookie</title>
<p>The [CO], or [cookie] flag, allows you to set a cookie when a
particular <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive>
matches. The argument consists of three required fields and five optional
fields.</p>

<p>The full syntax for the flag, including all attributes, is as
follows:</p>

<example>
[CO=NAME:VALUE:DOMAIN:lifetime:path:secure:httponly:samesite]
</example>

<note type="warning">
<title>Security Warning</title>
<p>Exercise care when constructing the argument from backreferences or other
variable expansion.  If any part of the argument is derived from user input,
a malicious request may include delimiters or other unexpected values.</p>
</note>

<p>If a literal ':' character is needed in any of the cookie fields, an 
alternate syntax is available.  To opt-in to the alternate syntax, the cookie 
"Name" should be preceded with a ';' character, and field separators should be
specified as ';'.</p>

<example>
[CO=;NAME;VALUE:MOREVALUE;DOMAIN;lifetime;path;secure;httponly;samesite]
</example>

<p>You must declare a name, a value, and a domain for the cookie to be set.</p>

<dl>
<dt>Domain</dt>
<dd>The domain for which you want the cookie to be valid. This may be a
hostname, such as <code>www.example.com</code>, or it may be a domain,
such as <code>.example.com</code>. It must be at least two parts
separated by a dot. That is, it may not be merely <code>.com</code> or
<code>.net</code>. Cookies of that kind are forbidden by the cookie
security model.</dd>
</dl>

<p>You may optionally also set the following values:</p>

<dl>
<dt>Lifetime</dt>
<dd>The time for which the cookie will persist, in minutes.</dd>
<dd>A value of 0 indicates that the cookie will persist only for the
current browser session. This is the default value if none is
specified.</dd>
<dd>A negative value causes the cookie to be unset in the browser.</dd>

<dt>Path</dt>
<dd>The path, on the current website, for which the cookie is valid,
such as <code>/customers/</code> or <code>/files/download/</code>.</dd>
<dd>By default, this is set to <code>/</code> - that is, the entire
website.</dd>

<dt>Secure</dt>
<dd>If set to <code>secure</code>, <code>true</code>, or <code>1</code>,
the cookie will only be permitted to be translated via secure (https)
connections.</dd>

<dt>httponly</dt>
<dd>If set to <code>HttpOnly</code>, <code>true</code>, or
<code>1</code>, the cookie will have the <code>HttpOnly</code> flag set,
which means that the cookie is inaccessible to JavaScript code on
browsers that support this feature.</dd>

<dt>samesite</dt>
<dd>If set to anything other than <code>false</code> or <code>0</code>, the <code>SameSite</code>
attribute is set to the specified value.  Typical values are <code>None</code>,
<code>Lax</code>, and <code>Strict</code>. Available in 2.5.1 and later.</dd>
</dl>


<p>Consider this example:</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule   "^/index\.html"   "-" [CO=frontdoor:yes:.example.com:1440:/]
</highlight>

<p>In the example give, the rule doesn't rewrite the request.
The "-" rewrite target tells <module>mod_rewrite</module> to pass the request
through unchanged. Instead, it sets a cookie
called 'frontdoor' to a value of 'yes'. The cookie is valid for any host
in the <code>.example.com</code> domain. It is set to expire in 1440
minutes (24 hours) and is returned for all URIs.</p>

</section>

<section id="flag_dpi"><title>DPI|discardpath</title>
<p>The DPI flag causes the <glossary ref="pathinfo">PATH_INFO</glossary>
that was appended to the rewritten
<glossary ref="urlpath">URL-path</glossary> to be discarded.</p>

<p>In <glossary ref="perdirectory">per-directory context</glossary>, the
<glossary ref="urlpath">URL-path</glossary> each
<directive>RewriteRule</directive> compares against is the concatenation
of the current URL-path and PATH_INFO.</p>

<p>The current URL-path can be the initial path as requested by the
client, the result of a previous round of <module>mod_rewrite</module>
processing, or the result of a prior rule in the current round of
<module>mod_rewrite</module> processing.</p>

<p>In contrast, the PATH_INFO that is appended to the URL-path before
each rule reflects only the value of PATH_INFO before this round of
<module>mod_rewrite</module> processing. As a consequence, if large
portions of the URL-path are matched and copied into a substitution in multiple
<directive>RewriteRule</directive> directives, without regard for
which parts of the URL-path came from the current PATH_INFO, the final
URL-path may have multiple copies of PATH_INFO appended to it.</p>

<p>Use this flag on any substitution where the PATH_INFO that resulted
from the previous mapping of this request to the filesystem is not of
interest.  This flag permanently forgets the PATH_INFO established
before this round of <module>mod_rewrite</module> processing began. PATH_INFO will
not be recalculated until the current round of <module>mod_rewrite</module> processing
completes.  Subsequent rules during this round of processing will see
only the direct result of substitutions, without any PATH_INFO
appended.</p>

<highlight language="config">
# Request: /app/script.php/extra/path (PATH_INFO is /extra/path)
# Without DPI, the substitution would see "script.php/extra/path"
# and could inadvertently copy PATH_INFO into the result.
RewriteRule "^script\.php(.*)$" "/new-app/handler$1" [DPI]
</highlight>

<p>The [DPI] flag discards <code>/extra/path</code> so that only the
substitution result (<code>/new-app/handler</code>) is passed to
subsequent rules or the final request.</p>

</section>

<section id="flag_e"><title>E|env</title>
<p>With the [E], or [env] flag, you can set the value of an environment
variable. Note that some environment variables may be set after the rule
is run, thus unsetting what you have set. See <a href="../env.html">the
Environment Variables document</a> for more details on how Environment
variables work.</p>

<p>The full syntax for this flag is:</p>

<highlight language="config">
[E=VAR:VAL]
[E=!VAR]
</highlight>

<p><code>VAL</code> may contain backreferences (<code>$N</code> or
<code>%N</code>) which are expanded.</p>

<p>Using the short form</p>

<example>
[E=VAR]
</example>

<p>you can set the environment variable named <code>VAR</code> to an
empty value.</p>

<p>The form</p>

<example>
[E=!VAR]
</example>

<p>allows to unset a previously set environment variable named
<code>VAR</code>.</p>

<p>Environment variables can then be used in a variety of
contexts, including CGI programs, other RewriteRule directives, or
CustomLog directives.</p>

<p>The following example sets an environment variable called 'image' to a
value of '1' if the requested URL-path is an image file. Then, that
environment variable is used to exclude those requests from the access
log.</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "\.(png|gif|jpg)$"   "-" [E=image:1]
CustomLog   "logs/access_log"    combined env=!image
</highlight>

<p>Note that this same effect can be obtained using <directive
module="mod_setenvif">SetEnvIf</directive>. This technique is offered as
an example, not as a recommendation.</p>

<p><strong>Setting environment variables for tracking rewrites</strong></p>

<p>At times, we want to maintain some kind of status when we
perform a rewrite. For example, you want to make a note that
you've done that rewrite, so that you can check later to see if a
request came via that rewrite. One way to do this is by setting an
environment variable.</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule   "^/horse/(.*)"   "/pony/$1" [E=<strong>rewritten:1</strong>]
</highlight>

<p>Later in your ruleset you might check for this environment
variable using a RewriteCond:</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteCond "%{ENV:rewritten}"  =1
</highlight>

<p>Note that environment variables do not survive an external
redirect. You might consider using the [CO] flag to set a
cookie.</p>

    <note><title>REDIRECT_ prefix after internal redirects</title>
    <p>In <glossary ref="perdirectory">per-directory context</glossary>,
    a successful substitution triggers an internal redirect. When this
    happens, all environment variables set during the previous pass —
    including those created with <code>[E=VAR:VAL]</code> — are renamed
    with a <code>REDIRECT_</code> prefix. A variable you set as
    <code>rewritten</code> becomes <code>REDIRECT_rewritten</code> in
    the redirected request.</p>

    <p>To test for the renamed variable, reference it with the
    prefix:</p>
    </note>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule   "^/horses/(.*)" "/ponies/$1" [E=rewritten:1]

# In the next pass, the variable has been renamed:
RewriteCond "%{ENV:REDIRECT_rewritten}" =1
RewriteRule "^/ponies/(.*)" "-" [E=seen_redirect:1,L]
</highlight>

    <p>If the request is redirected multiple times, the prefix stacks:
    <code>REDIRECT_REDIRECT_rewritten</code>, and so on. See
    <a href="../env.html#redirect-vars">REDIRECT_ variables</a> for
    the complete description of this mechanism.</p>

</section>

<section id="flag_end"><title>END</title>
<p>Using the [END] flag terminates not only the current round of rewrite
processing (like [L]) but also prevents any subsequent rewrite
processing from occurring in
<glossary ref="perdirectory">per-directory</glossary> context. This
makes it the preferred flag for most per-directory rules.</p>

<p>In server or virtualhost context, [END] and [L] behave identically.
The difference matters in per-directory context, where [L] stops the
current pass but the ruleset is re-applied on the rewritten URL. This
can cause infinite loops. [END] prevents all further rewrite processing,
breaking the cycle.</p>

<highlight language="config">
# In .htaccess: route all requests to a front controller
# [L] would cause a loop here; [END] does not
RewriteCond "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" !-f
RewriteCond "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" !-d
RewriteRule "^(.*)$" "/index.php" [END]
</highlight>

<p>This does not apply to new requests resulting from external
redirects.</p>

<p>See the <a href="htaccess.html#loops">Per-directory Rewrites</a>
discussion for a detailed explanation of why [L] behaves differently
in per-directory context, and when [END] is the right choice.</p>

</section>

<section id="flag_f"><title>F|forbidden</title>
<p>Using the [F] flag causes the server to return a 403 Forbidden status
code to the client. While the same behavior can be accomplished using
the <directive module="mod_access_compat">Deny</directive> directive, this
allows more flexibility in assigning a Forbidden status.</p>

<p>The following rule will forbid <code>.exe</code> files from being
downloaded from your server.</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "\.exe"   "-" [F]
</highlight>

<p>This example uses the "-" syntax for the rewrite target, which means
that the requested URL-path is not modified. There's no reason to rewrite to
another URL-path, if you're going to forbid the request.</p>

<p>When using [F], an [L] is implied - that is, the response is returned
immediately, and no further rules are evaluated.</p>

</section>

<section id="flag_g"><title>G|gone</title>
<p>The [G] flag forces the server to return a 410 Gone status with the
response. This indicates that a resource used to be available, but is no
longer available.</p>

<p>As with the [F] flag, you will typically use the "-" syntax for the
rewrite target when using the [G] flag:</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "oldproduct"   "-" [G,NC]
</highlight>

<p>When using [G], an [L] is implied - that is, the response is returned
immediately, and no further rules are evaluated.</p>

</section>

<section id="flag_h"><title>H|handler</title>
<p>Forces the resulting request to be handled with the specified
handler. For example, one might use this to force all files without a
file extension to be parsed by the php handler:</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "!\."  "-" [H=application/x-httpd-php]
</highlight>

<p>
The regular expression above - <code>!\.</code> - will match any request
that does not contain the literal <code>.</code> character.
</p>

<p>This can be also used to force the handler based on some conditions.
For example, the following snippet used in per-server context allows
<code>.php</code> files to be <em>displayed</em> by <code>mod_php</code>
if they are requested with the <code>.phps</code> extension:</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "^(/source/.+\.php)s$" "$1" [H=application/x-httpd-php-source]
</highlight>

<p>The regular expression above - <code>^(/source/.+\.php)s$</code> - will
match any request that starts with <code>/source/</code> followed by 1 or
n characters followed by <code>.phps</code> literally. The backreference
$1 referrers to the captured match within parenthesis of the regular
expression.</p>
</section>

<section id="flag_l"><title>L|last</title>
<p>The [L] flag causes <module>mod_rewrite</module> to stop processing
the rule set. In most contexts, this means that if the rule matches, no
further rules will be processed. This corresponds to the
<code>last</code> command in Perl, or the <code>break</code> command in
C. Use this flag to indicate that the current rule should be applied
immediately without considering further rules.</p>

<p>In <glossary ref="perdirectory">per-directory</glossary> context,
[L] stops the current pass through the ruleset, but the rewritten
request may be re-processed from the top — which can cause loops.
Use the <a href="#flag_end">[END]</a> flag to prevent this, or see
the <a href="htaccess.html#loops">Per-directory Rewrites</a> document
for a full discussion of the issue and alternative solutions.</p>

<p>The example given here will rewrite any request to
<code>index.php</code>, giving the original request as a query string
argument to <code>index.php</code>, however, the <directive
module="mod_rewrite">RewriteCond</directive> ensures that if the request
is already for <code>index.php</code>, the <directive
module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> will be skipped.</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteBase "/"
RewriteCond "%{REQUEST_URI}" !=/index.php
RewriteRule "^(.*)"          "/index.php?req=$1" [L,PT]
</highlight>
</section>

<section id="flag_n"><title>N|next</title>
<p>
The [N] flag causes the ruleset to start over again from the top, using
the result of the ruleset so far as a starting point. Use
with extreme caution, as it may result in loop.
</p>
<p>
The [Next] flag could be used, for example, if you wished to replace a
certain string or letter repeatedly in a request. The example shown here
will replace A with B everywhere in a request, and will continue doing
so until there are no more As to be replaced.
</p>
<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "(.*)A(.*)" "$1B$2" [N]
</highlight>
<p>You can think of this as a <code>while</code> loop: While this
pattern still matches (i.e., while the URL-path still contains an
<code>A</code>), perform this substitution (i.e., replace the
<code>A</code> with a <code>B</code>).</p>

<p>In 2.5.0 and later, this module returns an error after 10,000 iterations to
protect against unintended looping.  An alternative maximum number of
iterations can be specified by adding to the N flag.  </p>
<highlight language="config">
# Be willing to replace 1 character in each pass of the loop
RewriteRule "(.+)[&gt;&lt;;]$" "$1" [N=32000]
# ... or, give up if after 10 loops
RewriteRule "(.+)[&gt;&lt;;]$" "$1" [N=10]
</highlight>

</section>

<section id="flag_nc"><title>NC|nocase</title>
<p>Use of the [NC] flag causes the <directive
module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> to be matched in a
case-insensitive manner. That is, it doesn't care whether letters appear
as upper-case or lower-case in the matched URL-path.</p>

<p>In the example below, any request for an image file will be proxied
to your dedicated image server. The match is case-insensitive, so that
<code>.jpg</code> and <code>.JPG</code> files are both acceptable, for
example.</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "(.*\.(jpg|gif|png))$" "http://images.example.com$1" [P,NC]
</highlight>
</section>

<section id="flag_ne"><title>NE|noescape</title>
<p>By default, when a <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive>
results in an external redirect, any characters in the output that are
not in the following safe set will be converted to their hexcode
(percent-encoded) equivalents:</p>

<ul>
  <li>Alphanumeric characters: <code>A-Z</code>, <code>a-z</code>,
  <code>0-9</code></li>
  <li>Special characters: <code>$-_.+!*'(),:;@&amp;=/~</code></li>
</ul>

<p>For example, <code>#</code> would be converted to <code>%23</code>,
and <code>?</code> to <code>%3F</code>. The <code>%</code> character
is also escaped (to <code>%25</code>), which means that any
percent-encoding already present in the substitution will be
double-encoded.</p>

<p>Using the [NE] flag prevents this escaping, allowing characters
such as <code>#</code> and <code>?</code> to pass through to the
redirect URL unmodified.</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "^/anchor/(.+)" "/bigpage.html#$1" [NE,R]
</highlight>

<p>
The above example will redirect <code>/anchor/xyz</code> to
<code>/bigpage.html#xyz</code>. Omitting the [NE] will result in the #
being converted to its hexcode equivalent, <code>%23</code>, which will
then result in a 404 Not Found error condition.
</p>

<p>See <a href="tech.html#encoding">URL Encoding and Decoding</a> for
the full picture of how Apache encodes and decodes URIs during
rewriting.</p>
</section>

<section id="flag_ns"><title>NS|nosubreq</title>
<p>Use of the [NS] flag prevents the rule from being used on
subrequests. For example, a page which is included using an SSI (Server
Side Include) is a subrequest, and you may want to avoid rewrites
happening on those subrequests. Also, when <module>mod_dir</module>
tries to find out information about possible directory default files
(such as <code>index.html</code> files), this is an internal
subrequest, and you often want to avoid rewrites on such subrequests.
On subrequests, it is not always useful, and can even cause errors, if
the complete set of rules are applied. Use this flag to exclude
problematic rules.</p>

<p>To decide whether or not to use this rule: if you prefix URLs with
CGI-scripts, to force them to be processed by the CGI-script, it's
likely that you will run into problems (or significant overhead)
on sub-requests. In these cases, use this flag.</p>

<p>
Images, javascript files, or css files, loaded as part of an HTML page,
are not subrequests - the browser requests them as separate HTTP
requests.
</p>

<highlight language="config">
# Only rewrite direct requests to the front controller,
# not subrequests from SSI includes or mod_dir.
RewriteCond "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" !-f
RewriteCond "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" !-d
RewriteRule "^(.*)$" "/app/index.php?page=$1" [NS,L]
</highlight>

</section>

<section id="flag_p"><title>P|proxy</title>
<p>Use of the [P] flag causes the request to be handled by
<module>mod_proxy</module>, and handled via a proxy request. For
example, if you wanted all image requests to be handled by a back-end
image server, you might do something like the following:</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "/(.*)\.(jpg|gif|png)$" "http://images.example.com/$1.$2" [P]
</highlight>

<p>Use of the [P] flag implies [L] - that is, the request is immediately
pushed through the proxy, and any following rules will not be
considered.</p>

<p>
You must make sure that the substitution string is a valid URL
(typically starting with <code>http://</code><em>hostname</em>) which can be
handled by the <module>mod_proxy</module>. If not, you will get an
error from the proxy module. Use this flag to achieve a
more powerful implementation of the <directive
module="mod_proxy">ProxyPass</directive> directive,
to map remote content into the namespace of the local server.</p>

<note type="warning">
<title>Security Warning</title>
<p>Take care when constructing the target URL of the rule, considering
the security impact of allowing the client influence over the set of
URLs to which your server will act as a proxy. If any part of the
target URL is derived from user input (backreferences, query strings,
etc.), an attacker may be able to cause your server to make requests
to arbitrary internal or external hosts. This is known as a
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability. Ensure that the
scheme and hostname part of the URL is either fixed, or does not allow
the client undue influence.</p>
</note>

<note type="warning">
<title>Performance warning</title>
<p>Using this flag triggers the use of <module>mod_proxy</module>, without
handling of persistent connections as the default worker is used in this case,
which does not handle connection pooling/reuse.</p>
<p>In order to use persistent connections you need to setup a
<directive module="mod_proxy">Proxy</directive> block at least for the scheme
and host part of the target URL containing a
<directive module="mod_proxy">ProxySet</directive> directive where you e.g. set
a timeout.</p>
<p>If you set it up with <directive module="mod_proxy">ProxyPass</directive> or
<directive module="mod_proxy">ProxyPassMatch</directive> persistent connections
will be used automatically.</p>
</note>

<p>Note: <module>mod_proxy</module> must be enabled in order
to use this flag.</p>

</section>

<section id="flag_pt"><title>PT|passthrough</title>

<p>
The target (or substitution string) in a RewriteRule is assumed to be a
file path, by default. The use of the [PT] flag causes it to be treated
as a URL-path instead. That is to say, the
use of the [PT] flag causes the result of the <directive
module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> to be passed back through
URL mapping, so that location-based mappings, such as <directive
module="mod_alias">Alias</directive>, <directive
module="mod_alias">Redirect</directive>, or <directive
module="mod_alias">ScriptAlias</directive>, for example, might have a
chance to take effect.
</p>

<p>
If, for example, you have an
<directive module="mod_alias">Alias</directive>
for /icons, and have a <directive
module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> pointing there, you should
use the [PT] flag to ensure that the
<directive module="mod_alias">Alias</directive> is evaluated.
</p>

<highlight language="config">
Alias "/icons" "/usr/local/apache/icons"
RewriteRule "/pics/(.+)\.jpg$" "/icons/$1.gif" [PT]
</highlight>

<p>
Omission of the [PT] flag in this case will cause the Alias to be
ignored, resulting in a 'File not found' error being returned.
</p>

<p>The <code>PT</code> flag implies the <code>L</code> flag:
rewriting will be stopped in order to pass the request to
the next phase of processing.</p>

<p>Note that the <code>PT</code> flag is implied in per-directory
contexts such as
<directive type="section" module="core">Directory</directive> sections
or in <code>.htaccess</code> files. The only way to circumvent that
is to rewrite to <code>-</code>.</p>

</section>

<section id="flag_qsa"><title>QSA|qsappend</title>
<p>
When the replacement URL contains a query string, the default behavior
of <directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> is to discard
the existing query string, and replace it with the newly generated one.
Using the [QSA] flag causes the query strings to be combined.
</p>

<p>Consider the following rule:</p>

<highlight language="config">
RewriteRule "/pages/(.+)" "/page.php?page=$1" [QSA]
</highlight>

<p>With the [QSA] flag, a request for <code>/pages/123?one=two</code> will be
mapped to <code>/page.php?page=123&amp;one=two</code>. Without the [QSA]
flag, that same request will be mapped to
<code>/page.php?page=123</code> - that is, the existing query string
will be discarded.
</p>
</section>

<section id="flag_qsd"><title>QSD|qsdiscard</title>
<p>
When the requested URL contains a query string, and the target URL does
not, the default behavior of <directive
module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> is to copy that query
string to the target URL. Using the [QSD] flag causes the query string
to be discarded.
</p>

<p>This flag is available in version 2.4.0 and later.</p>

<p>
Using [QSD] and [QSA] together will result in [QSD] taking precedence.
</p>

<p>
If the target URL has a query string, the default behavior will be
observed - that is, the original query string will be discarded and
replaced with the query string in the <code>RewriteRule</code> target
URL.
</p>

<highlight language="config">
# Redirect old search URLs to the new path, discarding the query string.
# /search?q=term&amp;page=2  becomes  /find  (query string removed)
RewriteRule "^/search" "/find" [QSD,R=301,L]
</highlight>

</section>

<section id="flag_qsl"><title>QSL|qslast</title>
<p>
By default, the first (left-most) question mark in the substitution
delimits the path from the query string.  Using the [QSL] flag instructs
<directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> to instead split
the two components using the last (right-most) question mark.  </p>

<p>
This is useful when mapping to files that have literal question marks in 
their filename.  If no query string is used in the substitution, 
a question mark can be appended to it in combination with this flag.  </p>

<p>For example, if a legacy application expects a query string that
itself contains a question mark:</p>

<highlight language="config">
# Map /lookup/foo?bar to /app?type=foo?bar
# Without [QSL], the first ? in the substitution would split the
# path, producing /app with query string type=foo?bar incorrectly.
# With [QSL], the LAST ? is used as the delimiter.
RewriteRule "^/lookup/(.*)" "/app?type=$1" [QSL,PT]
</highlight>

<p>Without [QSL], the substitution <code>/app?type=foo?bar</code>
would be split at the first <code>?</code>, losing the literal question
mark in the value.</p>

<p> This flag is available in version 2.4.19 and later.</p>

</section>


<section id="flag_r"><title>R|redirect</title>
<p>
Use of the [R] flag causes a HTTP redirect to be issued to the browser.
If a fully-qualified URL is specified (that is, including
<code>http://servername/</code>) then a redirect will be issued to that
location. Otherwise, the current protocol, servername, and port number
will be used to generate the URL sent with the redirect.
</p>

<p>
<em>Any</em> valid HTTP response  status code may be specified,
using the syntax [R=305], with a 302 status code being used by
default if none is specified. The status code specified need not
necessarily be a redirect (3xx) status code. However,
if a status code is outside the redirect range (300-399) then the
substitution string is dropped entirely, and rewriting is stopped as if
the <code>L</code> were used.</p>

<p>In addition to response status codes, you may also specify redirect
status using their symbolic names: <code>temp</code> (default),
<code>permanent</code>, or <code>seeother</code>.</p>

<p>
You will almost always want to use [R] in conjunction with [L] (that is,
use [R,L]) because on its own, the [R] flag prepends
<code>http://thishost[:thisport]</code> to the URL-path, but then passes this
on to the next rule in the ruleset, which can often result in 'Invalid
URI in request' warnings.
</p>

<p>Note: httpd only supports status codes that are included in the HTTP
spec.  Using an unrecognized status code will result in a 500 error and
error log message.</p>

<note type="warning"><title>[R=4xx] does not serve the substitution</title>
<p>When a status code outside the 300-399 range is specified (e.g.,
<code>[R=403]</code> or <code>[R=410]</code>), the
<em>substitution string is ignored</em>. The URL you wrote as the
target is not served to the client. Instead, httpd returns the
specified status code and handles it through the normal error
response path (including any configured
<directive module="core">ErrorDocument</directive>).
If you want to deny access, the <a href="#flag_f">[F]</a> and
<a href="#flag_g">[G]</a> flags are clearer ways to express the
same intent.</p>
</note>

<highlight language="config">
# Redirect requests for the old docs path to the new location.
RewriteRule "^/docs/(.*)$" "http://docs.example.com/$1" [R=301,L]
</highlight>

</section>

<section id="flag_s"><title>S|skip</title>
<p>The [S] flag is used to skip rules that you don't want to run. The
syntax of the skip flag is [S=<em>N</em>], where <em>N</em> signifies
the number of rules to skip (provided the <directive module="mod_rewrite">
RewriteRule</directive> and any preceding <directive module="mod_rewrite">
RewriteCond</directive> directives match). This can be thought of as a
<code>goto</code> statement in your rewrite ruleset. In the following
example, we only want to run the <directive module="mod_rewrite">
RewriteRule</directive> if the requested URL-path doesn't correspond with an
actual file.</p>

<highlight language="config">
# Is the request for a non-existent file?
RewriteCond "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" !-f
RewriteCond "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" !-d
# If so, skip these two RewriteRules
RewriteRule ".?"                  "-" [S=2]

RewriteRule "(.*\.gif)"           "images.php?$1"
RewriteRule "(.*\.html)"          "docs.php?$1"
</highlight>

<p>This technique is useful because a <directive
module="mod_rewrite">RewriteCond</directive> only applies to the
<directive module="mod_rewrite">RewriteRule</directive> immediately
following it. Thus, if you want to make a <code>RewriteCond</code> apply
to several <code>RewriteRule</code>s, one possible technique is to
negate those conditions and add a <code>RewriteRule</code> with a [Skip] flag. You can
use this to make pseudo if-then-else constructs: The last rule of
the then-clause becomes <code>skip=N</code>, where N is the
number of rules in the else-clause:</p>
<highlight language="config">
# Does the file exist?
RewriteCond "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" !-f
RewriteCond "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" !-d
# Create an if-then-else construct by skipping 3 lines if we meant to go to the &quot;else&quot; stanza.
RewriteRule ".?"                  "-" [S=3]

# IF the file exists, then:
    RewriteRule "(.*\.gif)"  "images.php?$1"
    RewriteRule "(.*\.html)" "docs.php?$1"
    # Skip past the &quot;else&quot; stanza.
    RewriteRule ".?"         "-" [S=1]
# ELSE...
    RewriteRule "(.*)"       "404.php?file=$1"
# END
</highlight>

<p>It is probably easier to accomplish this kind of configuration using
the <directive type="section">If</directive>, <directive
type="section">ElseIf</directive>, and <directive
type="section">Else</directive> directives instead.</p>

</section>

<section id="flag_t"><title>T|type</title>
<p>Sets the MIME type with which the resulting response will be
sent. This has the same effect as the <directive
module="mod_mime">AddType</directive> directive.</p>

<p>For example, you might use the following technique to serve Perl
source code as plain text, if requested in a particular way:</p>

<highlight language="config">
# Serve .pl files as plain text
RewriteRule "\.pl$"  "-" [T=text/plain]
</highlight>

<p>Or, perhaps, if you have a camera that produces jpeg images without
file extensions, you could force those images to be served with the
correct MIME type by virtue of their file names:</p>

<highlight language="config">
# Files with 'IMG' in the name are jpg images.
RewriteRule "IMG"  "-" [T=image/jpg]
</highlight>

<p>Please note that this is a trivial example, and could be better done
using <directive type="section" module="core">FilesMatch</directive>
instead. Always consider the alternate
solutions to a problem before resorting to rewrite, which will
invariably be a less efficient solution than the alternatives.</p>

<p>
If used in per-directory context, use only <code>-</code> (dash)
as the substitution <em>for the entire round of <module>mod_rewrite</module> processing</em>,
otherwise the MIME-type set with this flag is lost due to an internal
re-processing (including subsequent rounds of <module>mod_rewrite</module> processing).
The <code>L</code> flag can be useful in this context to end the
<em>current</em> round of <module>mod_rewrite</module> processing.</p>
</section>

<section id="flag_unsafe_allow_3f"><title>UnsafeAllow3F</title>
    <p> Setting this flag is required to allow a rewrite to continue If the
    HTTP request being written has an encoded question mark, '%3f', and the
    rewritten result has a '?' in the substitution.  This protects from a malicious
    URL taking advantage of a capture and re-substitution of the encoded
    question mark.</p>

<highlight language="config">
# A PHP front controller that routes all requests via a query parameter.
# Without UnsafeAllow3F, a request like /page%3Fname=test would return
# 403 Forbidden because the rewritten substitution contains '?' while
# the original request contains an encoded '%3F'.
RewriteCond "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" !-f
RewriteCond "%{REQUEST_FILENAME}" !-d
RewriteRule "(.+)" "index.php?route=$1" [L,QSA,UnsafeAllow3F]
</highlight>

<note type="warning">
This flag exists because of <a
href="https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-38474">CVE-2024-38474</a>.
Use it only on rules where you are certain that user-supplied <code>%3F</code>
in the request cannot be exploited to manipulate the query string of the
substitution target. Prefer restructuring URLs to avoid encoded question
marks where possible.
</note>

</section>
<section id="flag_unsafe_prefix_stat"><title>UnsafePrefixStat</title>
    <p> Setting this flag is required in server-scoped substitutions
    start with a variable or backreference and resolve to a filesystem path.
    These substitutions are not prefixed with the document root.
    This protects from a malicious URL causing the expanded substitution to
    map to an unexpected filesystem location.</p>

    <p><since>2.5.1</since></p>

<highlight language="config">
# This rule starts the substitution with a backreference.
# Since 2.4.60, this is rejected by default to prevent the expanded
# path from escaping the document root (CVE-2024-38475).
# Only add UnsafePrefixStat after verifying the substitution cannot
# resolve to a filesystem path outside your web root.
RewriteRule "^/mirror/(.+)$" "$1" [PT,UnsafePrefixStat]
</highlight>

<note type="warning">
This flag exists because of <a
href="https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-38475">CVE-2024-38475</a>.
Without it, a substitution beginning with a backreference or variable
that happens to match an existing filesystem path could allow requests
to escape the document root. Use this flag only after confirming that
the substitution is adequately constrained.
</note>

</section>
<section id="flag_unc"><title>UNC</title>
    <p> Setting this flag prevents the merging of multiple leading slashes,
    as used in Windows UNC paths.  The flag is not necessary when the rules
    substitution starts with multiple literal slashes.</p>

    <p><since>2.5.1</since></p>

<highlight language="config">
# On Windows, rewrite to a UNC file share using a variable.
# Without [UNC], the leading slashes in the substitution would be
# collapsed (//server/share becomes /server/share).
RewriteCond "%{HTTP_HOST}" "^(.+)\.internal$"
RewriteRule "^/shared/(.*)$" "//%1/fileshare/$1" [UNC]
</highlight>

<p>This flag is only relevant on Windows. It prevents Apache from
merging the leading double slash (<code>//</code>) that denotes a
UNC path when the path is constructed from a backreference or
variable. If the substitution begins with literal double slashes,
no flag is needed.</p>

</section>

</manualpage>