PHP/.htaccess: removing php extension from url

Question

I was using .htaccess code to remove .php extension for all my web pages. Here's the code I use:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond /%{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9_-\s]+)/$ /$1.php

It doesn't seem to work. I think I'm missing something. When I type www.mysite.com/about/ to get www.mysite.com/about.php it returns error 404 (page not found). Can someone please shed some light.

Thanks, Paul G.

Answer 1

Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

# If folder does not exist
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
# and file exist
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/$1\.php -f
# uncomment the below rule if you want the "/" to be required 
# otherwise leave as is
# RewriteRule ^([^/]+)/$ $1.php [L]
# internally show the content of filename.php
RewriteRule ^([^/]+)/?$ $1.php [L]

The above rule will:

1. will not redirect if a folder exist
2. will not redirect if the file does not exist
3. will redirect what comes before the / if one is present as the file name

So it will work for all these examples:

http://domain.com/about/
http://domain.com/about
http://domain.com/contact/
http://domain.com/contact

If you want you can remove the ? , like the commented rule, to make it accept only URL's that end with a / .

http://domain.com/about/
http://domain.com/contact/

Now these are important step for the above to work:

1. It must go into the .htaccess on your root folder for example /home/youraccount/public_html/.htaccess
2. The Options before the rewrite rule are very important specially -MultiViews
3. The file must exist on the same place the .htaccess is for example in your case the about.php file
4. The PHP must be working obviously.

Answer 2

It seems like the slash at the end of your rule might be there, or it might not. Adding a ? makes it optional, so that mysite.com/about and mysite.com/about/ will both match.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9_-\s]+)/?$ /$1.php

It's hard to say if this is what's causing your problem, or if something else is, though. Does mysite.com/about.php also give you an error?