Some header passing variable?

Question

Im trying to pass some variables from the URL to the PHP script. Now I know that www.site.com/index.php?link=HELLO would require $_GET['link'] to get the variable "link". I was hoping there are other ways to do this without the variable.

For instance I want a link structure like this: www.site.com/HELLO. In this example I know that I have to create a Directory called Hello place an index file and it should work but I don't want to create a directory and Im hoping there's a way to "catch" that extra part after the domain. I'm thinking of creating a custom HTTP 404 Page that will somehow get the variable of the not found page, but I don't know how to get the HTTP 404 error parameters. Is there another simpler way to get a variable without the use of the extra ?link= part? I just want it to be a structure like this www.site.com/HELLO.

What you're asking for is called URL rewriting, and it is a common practice. It's done with Apache's mod_rewrite, for example. — Michael Berkowski
– Michael Berkowski, Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 20:27
See stackoverflow.com/search?q=%5Bphp%5D+rewriterule and httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_rewrite.html — Michael Berkowski
– Michael Berkowski, Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 20:28

kba · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-06 20:40:01Z

2

What you want is URL rewriting. You don't mention what kind of web server you're using, so I'll assume it's Apache.

If you have mod_rewrite enabled on your web server, this can easily be accomplished by creating a .htaccess file in your document root with the following

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?request=$1

This will make all requests - that match the regular expression [a-zA-Z0-9]+ - get forwarded to index.php. For instance, if you try to access domain.com/hello, PHP would interpret this as trying to access index.php?request=hello.

You can read more about this in the Apache HTTP Server manual about mod_rewrite.

edited Feb 6, 2012 at 20:40

answered Feb 6, 2012 at 20:27

kba

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2 Comments

Zakukashi Over a year ago

I tried to put this in the .htaccess file but when I do the request it gives me this error:The requested URL /site.com/index.html was not found on this server.

kba Over a year ago

The current code only rewrite requests for files including a-zA-Z0-9. index.html contains a dot, and is therefore not rewritten. I've just updated my answer to rewrite every request, unless the requested resource exists as a file or directory.

Madara's Ghost · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-06 20:28:10Z

2

In which case, you normally use .htaccess to alter the URL in some form. For instance:

RewriteEngine On                             #Enable Rewrite
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f          #If requested is not an existing file
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d          #If requested is not an existing directory
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?link=$1 [L]    #Preform Rewrite

Which will make www.site.com/hello to www.site.com/index.php?link=hello. This change is invisible to the user (he will still see www.site.com/hello as an address). Be advised that it may cause trouble if you try using relative paths with CSS/JavaScript files.

answered Feb 6, 2012 at 20:28

Madara's Ghost

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Comments

kitti · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-06 20:27:01Z

0

You need to use URL rewriting to do this. If you're using Apache: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_rewrite.html

answered Feb 6, 2012 at 20:27

kitti

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Christopher Johnson · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-06 20:28:13Z

0

you can do that with a mod-rewrite structure.

Here's a pretty good tutorial on how to set it up with php/apache.

http://www.sitepoint.com/guide-url-rewriting/

answered Feb 6, 2012 at 20:28

Christopher Johnson

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