Insert a string (conditionally) in url using mod_rewrite

Question

I'm trying to achieve this kind of mod_rewrite:

*if request_uri is not abc or def* change client side url from

domain.com/request_uri

to server side url

domain.com/xyz/request_uri

Essentially what I want is to insert a string to a url without users knowledge if s/he isn't trying to access certain predefined urls.

So far I have

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/abc$
RewriteRule ^(\w+)/?$ xyz/$1 [L]

but this seems to get stuck in a loop (/xyz//xyz//xyz...)

Answer 1

Add a condition to check for the component you're adding. You can use an additional RewriteCond or extend the regex. Try something like:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/?(xyz(/.*)|abc|def)/?$
RewriteRule ^(\w+)/?$ xyz/$1 [L]