Hide directory listing when accessing public folders in the browser

Question

How can I restrict access to my zend framework 2 public folder for example the css folder? I would like to hide the directory listing that shows up when I access a folder via http. But I want that the files can be utilized properly by the application.

This directory list shows up when I access the css folder on my domain:

Virtual Host Config:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName server1.jobsoft.co
    ServerAlias server1.jobsoft.co
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/engsvc_dev/public
    ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/engsvc_dev.error.log
    CustomLog /var/log/httpd/engsvc_dev.common.log common

    <Directory /var/www/html/engsvc_dev/public>

            DirectoryIndex index.php
            Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
            AllowOverride All
            Order allow,deny
            Allow from all

    </Directory>

My .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www.)?server1.jobsoft.co$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/engsvc_dev/public/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /public/$1

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www.)?server1.jobsoft.co$
RewriteRule ^(/)?$ /public/index.php [L]

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
   RewriteEngine On
   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ public/$1 [L]
</IfModule>

`css` files normally need to be publicly accessible. What do you mean with *"utilize properly by the application"*. If you mean use it in your client sided application/code, then it needs to be publicly accessible. If you mean you want to use it in your server side code then I suggest you remove this file from the public folder. — Wilt, Jan 26 '17 at 13:49
i dont want to show the structure on the browser, or is that not possible? — tom_cruz, Jan 26 '17 at 18:19
Check [here](https://www.thesitewizard.com/apache/prevent-directory-listing-htaccess.shtml) or [here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2530372/how-do-i-disable-directory-browsing) — Wilt, Jan 26 '17 at 18:42

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

I edited your question and added the term "directory listing" because this is how this list of files that shows on your screen is commonly called. At first I didn't know what you wanted after reading your question. But after your comment I got it.

Normally you can prevent directory-listing by adding an additional rule to your the .htaccess file for your Apache server.

You can find lots of posts on how to do this, for example here and here or many more by searching the topic on stackoverflow.

The magic is turned off by:

Options -Indexes

And turned on by

Options +Indexes

In this apache documentation you can read the following in the chapter Options Directive:

Indexes If a URL which maps to a directory is requested and there is no DirectoryIndex (e.g., index.html) in that directory, then mod_autoindex will return a formatted listing of the directory.

Hide directory listing when accessing public folders in the browser

1 Answers1