htaccess category based redirect

Question

I want to perform these redirecttions:
example.com/a/b/c ===> example.com/index.php?p=a/b/c
example.com/d/e/f ===> example.com/index.php?p=d/e/f
example.com/area2/b/c ===> example.com/index_area2.php?p=b/c
example.com/area2/d/e ===> example.com/index_area2.php?p=d/e

This is what I have now:

RewriteRule ^area2(.*)$ /index_area2.php?p=$1 [L,QSA]  
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?p=$1 [L,QSA]

I get internal server error. what is wrong here? Each Rule works alone.

Answer 1

You're getting 500 error because your rules are causing infinite looping with any RewriteCond . Have it this way:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

# If the request is for a valid directory
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d [OR]
# If the request is for a valid file
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f
# skip them from rules below
RewriteRule ^ - [L]

RewriteRule ^area2/(.+)$ index_area2.php?p=$1 [L,QSA,NC]

RewriteRule ^(.+)$ index.php?p=$1 [L,QSA]