{"id":305,"date":"2007-08-19T13:55:34","date_gmt":"2007-08-19T03:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eisabainyo.net\/weblog\/2007\/08\/19\/removing-file-extension-via-htaccess\/"},"modified":"2021-04-26T17:56:39","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T07:56:39","slug":"removing-file-extension-via-htaccess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eisabainyo.net\/weblog\/2007\/08\/19\/removing-file-extension-via-htaccess\/","title":{"rendered":"Removing file extension via .htaccess"},"content":{"rendered":"

Problem:<\/strong>
\nYou have the following URLs for your website:
\nwww.example.com\/about-us.html
\nwww.example.com\/services.html
\nwww.example.com\/contact-us.html<\/p>\n

However, you would like to hide file extensions from the end users, and allow them to access to the files using the following URLs:
\nwww.example.com\/about-us
\nwww.example.com\/services
\nwww.example.com\/contact-us<\/p>\n

Solution:<\/strong>
\nThe solution can be achieved by using Apache's mod_rewrite. Create an .htaccess file in your website root directory with the following content. <\/p>\n

RewriteEngine On
\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}!-d
\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}!-f
\nRewriteRule ^([^.]+)\\.html<\/strong>$ $1 [L]
\n# Replace html with your file extension, eg: php, htm, asp
\n<\/code><\/del><\/p>\n

Correction<\/strong><\/p>\n

RewriteEngine on\r\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d\r\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\\.html -f\r\nRewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.html\r\n# Replace html with your file extension, eg: php, htm, asp<\/pre>\n
Many thanks to Binh Nguyen (Commenter #1) for the correction<\/em><\/p>\n
To add a trailing slash at the end of the URL<\/strong>
\n (for example:  http:\/\/www.example.com\/about-us\/ to go to http:\/\/www.example.com\/about-us.html)<\/p>\n
RewriteEngine on\r\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d\r\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\\.html -f\r\nRewriteRule ^([^\/]+)\/$ $1.html \r\n\r\n# Forces a trailing slash to be added\r\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f\r\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d\r\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(\\.[a-zA-Z0-9]{1,5}|\/)$\r\nRewriteRule (.*)$ \/$1\/ [R=301,L]<\/pre>\n
Benefits:<\/strong>
\n- Search engine friendly
\n- Easier to read and remember
\n- Extension\/environment independent; when you change the technology used for your website (for eg: from using asp to php), you can be assured that all the links and bookmarks will still work.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Problem: You have the following URLs for your website: www.example.com\/about-us.html www.example.com\/services.html www.example.com\/contact-us.html However, you would<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-snippets","category-tutorials"],"yoast_head":"\nRemoving file extension via .htaccess | Tech Leadership Advice & Resources<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eisabainyo.net\/weblog\/2007\/08\/19\/removing-file-extension-via-htaccess\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Removing 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