TechniTip.Net

Howto Beautify Ugly .PHP URL’s

You probably know this ugly .PHP links with many parameters like

I really don’t like this look. Doesn’t the following URL look much better?

I think yes. So here is tutorial how you can beautify your links using Apache and mod_rewrite.

The Test Script

We assume that mod_rewrite is loaded in your Apache config and generate a simple PHP script called “test.php”:

<?php
echo "Parameter 1: " . $_REQUEST['param1'] . "<br />";
echo "Parameter 2: " . $_REQUEST['param2'] . "<br />";
echo "Parameter 3: " . $_REQUEST['param3'] . "<br />";
?>

This script gets the parameters param1, param2, etc. which have been given to the PHP page and prints them out. To check it we put the URL into the browser:

http://technitip.net/test.php?param1=p1&param2=p2&param3=p3

And get the result:

Parameter 1: p1
Parameter 2: p2
Parameter 3: p3

Simple Rewrite

Fine, passing parameters to our PHP script is working but still looking ugly. Now we generate a .htaccess file in the root directory of your web directory:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^(test)/?(.*)$ test.php [L,QSA,NC]

What will happen? test.php will be redirected to test and all parameters will be parsed like before, we can test it:

First Parameter Rewrite

Nice, but not yet what we really want. So we put another line into the .htaccess (before our first RewriteRule, not after! It’s important):

RewriteRule ^(test)/([a-z0-9]+)(/[^/]+)?/?(.*)$ test.php?param1=$2 [L,QSA,NC]
RewriteRule ^(test)/?(.*)$ test.php [L,QSA,NC]


For every parameter we need a new expression /([a-z0-9]+)(/[^/]+)?/

This will convert the line /test/p1 into test.php?param1=p1. Note that only the characters a-z und 0-9 are allowed as parameters. For the first parameter $2 is used.

Second Parameter

We repeat this step for every further parameter we need to hand over, $4 is used for the second parameter (not $3!):

RewriteRule ^(test)/([a-z0-9]+)(/[^/]+)?/([a-z0-9]+)(/[^/]+)?/?(.*)$ test.php?param1=$2&param2=$4 [L,QSA,NC]
RewriteRule ^(test)/([a-z0-9]+)(/[^/]+)?/?(.*)$ test.php?param1=$2 [L,QSA,NC]
RewriteRule ^(test)/?(.*)$ test.php [L,QSA,NC]


Three Parameters

Or with 3 parameters. Note: Since the .htaccess is parsed from top to bottom the rewrite rule with the highest number of parameters must be located at the top of the .htaccess. $6 is used for the third parameter!

RewriteRule ^(test)/([a-z0-9]+)(/[^/]+)?/([a-z0-9]+)(/[^/]+)?/([a-z0-9]+)(/[^/]+)?/?(.*)$ test.php?param1=$2&param2=$4&param3=$6 [L,QSA,NC]
RewriteRule ^(test)/([a-z0-9]+)(/[^/]+)?/([a-z0-9]+)(/[^/]+)?/?(.*)$ test.php?param1=$2&param2=$4 [L,QSA,NC]
RewriteRule ^(test)/([a-z0-9]+)(/[^/]+)?/?(.*)$ test.php?param1=$2 [L,QSA,NC]
RewriteRule ^(test)/?(.*)$ test.php [L,QSA,NC]


We test again with 3 parameters:

Parameter 1: p1
Parameter 2: p2
Parameter 3: p3

Looks better, indeed.

Hint

Be sure you have enabled “Options FollowSymLinks” or Options “SymLinksIfOwnerMatch” in your Apache or virtual host config. Otherwise mod rewrite will not work!