How to apply mod_rewrite rules to files within directory?

Question

I'm trying to apply rewrite conditions in my htaccess file to all pages contained within a specific directory on my website, but not the directory index itself.

Ultimately, I'm trying to remove .php file extension from pages within a specific directory.

What I currently have now:

https://www.example.com/directory/page-1.php

End result I'm trying to achieve:

https://www.example.com/directory/page-1

Additionally, if a user attempts to visit the .php version of the page, it 301 redirects to the new version without the .php file extension.

Example matches:

https://www.example.com/directory/page-1.php
https://www.example.com/directory/page-2.php

Should not match:

https://www.example.com/directory/

Here's what I have so far:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} \/directory\/[^\s]+$

How should the RewriteRule be written?

Answer 1

The expression that might help us to find a RewriteRule can look like:

^https?:\/\/(www\.)?example\.com\/directory\/[^\s]+\.php$

which would fail our undesired URLs, and pass the desired ones.

Demo

Our RewriteRule might likely look like:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (.*\/directory\/)([^\s]+)\.php [NC]
    RewriteRule (.*directory\/)([^\s]+)\.php   $1$2 [L,R=301]
</IfModule>

Demo

RewriteRule Test

You can test your RewriteRules in htaccess.madewithlove.be .

RegEx Circuit

jex.im visualizes regular expressions:

We might also want to clear our browser cache, every time that we would change our htaccess file.

Answer 2

You can use the following rule in htaccess in your subfolder create one if it doesn't already exist :

 RewriteEngine on
 #rule for /subfolder/htaccess 
#redirect /subfolder/file.php to /file
#The condition bellow prevents infinite loop/Too many redirects  error
RewriteCond %{ENV_REDIRECT_STATUS} ^$
RewriteRule ^(.+)\.php$ /subfolder/$1 [L,R]
#internally map /subfolder/file to /subfolder/file.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.+)/?$ /subfolder/$1.php [L]

If you want to use your root htaccess file instead , then add the following contents:

 RewriteEngine on
 #rule for root/.htaccess 
#redirect /subfolder/file.php to /file
#The condition bellow prevents infinite loop/Too many redirects  error
RewriteCond %{ENV_REDIRECT_STATUS} ^$
RewriteRule ^subfolder/(.+)\.php$ /subfolder/$1 [L,R]
#internally map /subfolder/file to /subfolder/file.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteRule ^subfolder/(.+)/?$ /subfolder/$1.php [L]