PHP include() affected by mod_rewrite

Question

I have inherited a number of grossly coded PHP files, whose output I need to alter programmatically.

To achieve this, I chose to run them through another PHP file, rewriter.php, which looks approximately like this:

<?php
if(!preg_match('/^([a-zA-Z0-9\-_]*)$/', $_GET['page']))
  die('Incorrect page supplied.');
ob_start('changeOutput');

include($_GET['page'].'.php');
ob_end_flush();

function changeOutput ($buffer) {
  ...
}
?>

I use mod_rewrite to force them to run through this file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^([^\.]*)\.php$ rewriter.php?page=$1

However an error message is displayed which makes me believe that the include() statement is affected by the RewriteRule above, i.e. it tries to run rewriter.php through rewriter.php and so on.

I suppose there are many ways to tackle this problem but I am specifically looking for a way to escape the include() statement from being affected by mod_rewrite. I looked through the module documentation but I couldn't find anything relevant.

Of course, alternatives to this approach are welcome too.

Thank you for your time and thinking.

Best regards,
Daniel

Are you sure your script is being run from the directory you expect? That might look like having been redirected. — Dave
– Dave, Commented May 22, 2009 at 18:27
Are you running those rewrite rules from the context of a per directory conf file (.htaccess) file or the main apache conf file (httpd.conf) file? — Alana Storm
– Alana Storm, Commented May 22, 2009 at 20:25

Alana Storm · Accepted Answer · 2009-05-22 20:41:04Z

2

Sounds like you're looking for RewriteCond, which is essentially a conditional statement for mod_rewrite

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !rewriter.php$
RewriteRule ^([^\.]*)\.php$ rewriter.php?page=$1 [L]

This will prevent your rule from being applied to URLs that end in rewriter.php.

answered May 22, 2009 at 20:41

Alana Storm

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1 Comment

DXL Over a year ago

Thanks, Alan, that's wat I was looking for. That was a lot easier than I expect.

Gumbo · Accepted Answer · 2009-05-22 18:21:33Z

1

You should first check if the file exists before including it:

if ($_GET['page'] != 'rewriter' && is_file($_GET['page'].'.php')) {
    include $_GET['page'].'.php';
} else {
    // file does not exist or is invalid
}

answered May 22, 2009 at 18:21

Gumbo

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1 Comment

Alana Storm Over a year ago

That would work, but would add an additional file stat to every request to the site. Probably not a big deal on a low traffic site, but easily avoidable by handling at the apache level.

Jamie Rumbelow · Accepted Answer · 2009-05-22 18:32:07Z

0

You can add a RewriteCond conditional to your htaccess that will check to see if the file exists. Similar to the comment by Gumbo, except slightly faster (and more lightweight code-wise).

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^([^\.]*)\.php$ rewriter.php?page=$1

This checks to see if it's a file or directory relative to the root of your website. If it is, it'll run the rewriter. A quick touch of .htaccess awesomeness :)

answered May 22, 2009 at 18:32

Jamie Rumbelow

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Gumbo Over a year ago

This won’t work. A file cannot be a regular file (-f) and a directory (-d) at the same time.

Eineki · Accepted Answer · 2009-05-22 18:18:08Z

-1

Include used the way you do it refer to the filesystem and bypass the mod-rewrite translation engine.

I would watch your regular expression.

/^([a-zA-Z0-9\-_]*)$/

match empty string also.

Try

/^([a-zA-Z0-9\-_]+)$/

and see if $_GET['page'] is empty or not.

answered May 22, 2009 at 18:18

Eineki

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