Introduction: What is mod rewrite and how does it work?
The mod rewrite module is a part of the Apache website server that dictates how the server handles URLs. It can be enabled for individual websites to allow a user to map their domain name to various directories on their servers.
If your web hosting provider does not have mod rewrite enabled, you can still install it and make the necessary changes to your website.
You might not know it but you are using mod rewrite every day on your device. This is not something that you need to worry about because it’s a natural thing. The way this works is by modifying the URL according to what server name the user is requesting.
The major difference between Apache and IIS (windows) servers is a reverse proxy that redirects requests from one site to another site or one web application to a different web application. Apache needs a mod rewrite whereas IIS doesn’t need it.
If you’re running your own web server(CPanel), you’ll most likely be using Apache and if you’re running WordPress there’s a good chance that it’s on an Apache server too (though there are other options). That means that in order to have WordPress work correctly with mod-rewrite, we need to install certain add-ons and plugins that will take care of all the nitty gritty details for us.
Mod rewrite is an Apache HTTP server module. This module provides a rule-based rewriting engine and was developed to fulfill the need of hosting providers who offer FTP and web interfaces to their customers but want to enforce restrictions on which directories are accessible via FTP.
Mod rewrite comes with specific directives that specify the mod rewrite rules for an Apache HTTPd configuration file. These directives are RewriteBase, RewriteCond, RewriteRule, and RewriteMap.
The directive RewriteBase specifies the base URL for all other rewrite rules and matches one of these patterns: “/.*”, “.*”, or “/[a-z]{2}/”. This directive is optional but recommended.
The directive RewriteCond specifies a condition that requests must match in order to be rewritten or redirected by any following rewrite rule or redirection instruction (such as an internal redirect). A request can match multiple conditions.
mod_rewrite Cheat Sheet
