Member Avatar for minitauros

What I would like to do is to create a repeating pattern inside a rewriterule. For example:

RewriteRule ^([\w]+)/([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/([\w]+))*/?$ index.php?p=$1&s=$2(&$4=$5)*


Breaking it down:

On every page my ?p=BLA refers to a certain page, and every &s=BLA refers to a certain subpage. The rewriterule for this would obviously be:

RewriteRule ^([\w]+)/([\w]+)/?$ index.php?p=$1&s=$2

But now I want to add custom $_GET data to my url. For example I want to add &search=SEARCH, and I want to add &page=15, and anotherquery=BLA. The rewriterule I just wrote does not support this.

Is there any way to support an unspecified number of arguments in a rewriterule? For example by creating a repeating pattern? Because I don't know how many new arguments I want to add to the URL in advance.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by cwarn23

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raised the core question: how to accept an unspecified number of arguments in a RewriteRule. ’s big optional-group regex is technically possible but brittle (it still has a fixed max number of captures). ’s front-controller idea is the pragmatic, maintainable choice: keep the rewrite simple and let application code parse an arbitrary-depth path.

A concise, robust .htaccess approach is to route non-file/non-directory requests to a single entry script and preserve any existing query string:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L,QSA]

This avoids complex regexes in Apache and relies on application logic to interpret the path. See the Apache mod_rewrite documentation for details. (https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_rewrite.html)

Inside the front controller, the path can be split into segments and converted to named parameters or key/value pairs. Example PHP parsing pattern (safe decoding and basic validation expected):

$path = parse_url($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], PHP_URL_PATH);
$parts = array_values(array_filter(explode('/', trim($path, '/'))));
$p = $parts[0] ?? null;
$s = $parts[1] ?? null;

$params = [];
for ($i = 2; $i < count($parts); $i += 2) {
  $k = $parts[$i];
  $v = $parts[$i+1] ?? null;
  $params[$k] = rawurldecode($v);
}

The remaining elements in $params can be validated (e.g., intval for page numbers, whitelist keys) and optionally merged into $_GET. PHP’s parse_url and the $_SERVER docs are useful references. (https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.parse-url.php) (https://www.php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.server.php)

Troubleshooting notes: ensure mod_rewrite and AllowOverride are enabled, test with various trailing-slash forms, and prefer application-level validation over trusting path content. Large, nested regex rules are hard to maintain; the front-controller pattern is simpler and scales to unlimited arguments.

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Member Avatar for cwarn23

Well it is possible to do if statements in regex like the following:

RewriteRule ^/?([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/|)|)|)|)|)|)$ index.php?a=$1&b=$3&c=$5&d=$7&e=$9&f=$11&g=$13

And in that regex up the 7 forward slashes may be used with [\w]+ between them. It will dynamically match from 1 forward slash to 7 foward slashes. But keep in mind for it to work you will need it to match [\w]+.

Edited by cwarn23 because: n/a
Member Avatar for somedude3488

I have ran into this problem and I solve it by using php to handle this. Pretty much you send the entire url to a php page in a url variable.

Ex.

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ your_page.php?_url_=$1

Then with php you get the data and parse it yourself.

if ( isset( $_GET['_url_'] ) ) {
  //parse url
}

Worked great and still does in my custom mvc framework.

Maybe not the solution you are wanting, but will give you the flexibility you require.

Edited by somedude3488 because: n/a
Member Avatar for minitauros

Well it is possible to do if statements in regex like the following:

RewriteRule ^/?([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/(([\w]+)/|)|)|)|)|)|)$ index.php?a=$1&b=$3&c=$5&d=$7&e=$9&f=$11&g=$13

And in that regex up the 7 forward slashes may be used with [\w]+ between them. It will dynamically match from 1 forward slash to 7 foward slashes. But keep in mind for it to work you will need it to match [\w]+.

Thanks for the answer, that's definitely good to know. However, I have never seen a | being used inside a regex (in that place, I have of course seen it being used inside a pattern with the meaning this "or" that). What's the use of it behind a section?

Member Avatar for minitauros

I have ran into this problem and I solve it by using php to handle this. Pretty much you send the entire url to a php page in a url variable.

Ex.

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ your_page.php?_url_=$1

Then with php you get the data and parse it yourself.

if ( isset( $_GET['_url_'] ) ) {
  //parse url
}

Worked great and still does in my custom mvc framework.

Maybe not the solution you are wanting, but will give you the flexibility you require.

Very inventive. Might give it a try :). Thanks!

Member Avatar for cwarn23

Thanks for the answer, that's definitely good to know. However, I have never seen a | being used inside a regex (in that place, I have of course seen it being used inside a pattern with the meaning this "or" that). What's the use of it behind a section?

Yes in regex it also acts as an "or" statement so you can have multiple regex patterns between the "or" statements.

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