Apache RewriteRule, - (dash) as substitution

Question

I often see in PHP MVC applications an Apache RewriteRule that looks like this:

RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L]

The Apache docs for the RewriteRule directive states:

A dash indicates that no substitution should be performed (the existing path is passed through untouched). This is used when a flag (see below) needs to be applied without changing the path.

So from what I gather, you can use this to transform a path using a flag i.e [NC] for the RewriteRules to follow?

Could someone please explain this dash RewriteRule a little better?

I used this "do nothing" syntax to prevent parent folder's .htaccess rules from executing. It was useful with Apache 2.2. If you're using Apache 2.4, you can just use `RewriteOptions IgnoreInherit` to avoid parent folder's rewriting rules. — maganap, Oct 26 '16 at 11:16

score 15 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

15

See this answer:

mod_rewrite: what does this RewriteRule do?

It essentially means "do nothing if the previous RewriteConds match". The next RewriteRule(s) will instead do something else when the RewriteConds don't match. In the case of the post i linked you to, the next RewriteRule rewrites the url including "index.php".

edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

Community

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answered Dec 03 '10 at 23:01

maxgalbu

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So it's kinda of like an else operator. Or it's the same as prefixing an exclamation mark (!) to all my RewriteCond? I did try search for the answer but they were all relating to RewriteRules and escaping dashes. – Cobby Dec 04 '10 at 00:14
So, if I understand correctly, using the dash as target makes mostly sense if last [L] is applied? – Frank N Feb 02 '13 at 11:14

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 27 '11 at 21:12

I know this is kinda old, but it basically says "Hey, i might wanna use Rewrite, but for urls that match the above RewriteCond(s), leave it be and stop."

EX:

# If file or directory exists, we wanna send them there
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule .* - [L]

# Otherwise, use our smart page handler!
RewriteRule ^(.*)\.php$ virtualPage.php?page=$1 [L]

Apache RewriteRule, - (dash) as substitution

2 Answers2

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