How can I use .htaccess to hide .php URL extensions?

Question

I want something to put in my .htaccess file that will hide the .php file extension for my php files, so going to www.example.com/dir/somepage would show them www.example.com/dir/somepage.php.

Is there any working solution for this? My site uses HTTPS, if that matters at all.

This is my .htaccess at the moment:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80 
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.example.com/$1 [R,L]

ErrorDocument 404 /error/404.php

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/$
RewriteRule (.*) $1\.php [L]

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-05 07:59:04Z

53

Use this code in your .htaccess under DOCUMENT_ROOT:

Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
# Turn mod_rewrite on
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

# To externally redirect /dir/foo.php to /dir/foo
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,}\s([^.]+)\.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1 [R=302,L,NE]

## To internally redirect /dir/foo to /dir/foo.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.php [L]

It should be noted that this will also effect all HTTP requests, including POST, which will subsequently effect all requests of this kind to fall under this redirection and may potentially cause such requests to stop working.

To resolve this, you can add an exception into the first RewriteRule to ignore POST requests so the rule is not allowed to them.

# To externally redirect /dir/foo.php to /dir/foo excluding POST requests
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !POST
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,}\s([^.]+)\.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1 [R=302,L,NE]

edited Aug 5, 2020 at 7:59

answered Apr 5, 2012 at 15:32

anubhava

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7 Comments

ChristopherStrydom Over a year ago

how can you exclude pages? This seems to be interfering with my login script so i would like to exclude that page from these rewrites

ChristopherStrydom Over a year ago

Thanks will give it a try. What i think is happening is when the page is being reloaded without the extension it is loosing the variables. is there a way to fix this? Its as if its logging in twice.... I think... once with the email and pass and then again without. so in all i cant login

ChristopherStrydom Over a year ago

I tired RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/(login.php) but it doesn't seem to be doing anything?

anubhava Over a year ago

@Arios: Add RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !POST condition in first redirect rule to avoid POST requests getting redirected.

NathanC Over a year ago

Alternatively, if your POST requests are breaking due to the fact they're being re-attempted as GET requests with loss of data as a result, you can tell Apache to respond with a 307 or 308 code for temporary and permanent redirects respectively, instead of adding an exclusion for POST requests. These codes ensure the request method is preserved, while 301 and 302 responses do not. That is assuming your webserver doesn't need to maintain compatibility with old HTTP clients that have no proper support for these 'newer' response codes.

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Amit Verma · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-29 13:11:04Z

5

Remove php extension

You can use the code in /.htaccess :

RewriteEngine on


RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php [NC,L]

With the code above, you will be able to access /file.php as /file

Remove html extension

RewriteEngine on


RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html [NC,L]

Note : 'RewriteEngine on' directive should be used once at top per htaccess, so if you want to combine these 2 rules just remove the line from second rule. You can also remove any other extensions of your choice, just replace the .php with them on the code.

Happy htaccessing!

answered Jan 29, 2016 at 13:11

Amit Verma

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Comments

TRiG · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-15 11:25:58Z

3

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f       # if the requested URL is not a file that exists
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d       # and it isn't a directory that exists either
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.php  -f  # but when you put ".php" on the end it is a file that exists
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ $1\.php [QSA]          # then serve that file (maintaining the query string)

</IfModule>

Oddly, this code gave me HTTP 500 errors when tried in XAMPP in Windows. Removing the comments fixed it. So did moving the comments so they were on their own lines, instead of on the same lines as instructions.

edited Mar 15, 2014 at 11:25

answered Apr 5, 2012 at 12:02

TRiG

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2 Comments

TRiG Over a year ago

@Markum. I've since found that some implementations don't like comments on the same lines as code. Try removing the comments.

James Paterson Over a year ago

Had the same issue - Removing the comments solved it.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:17:39Z

0

Try this:

# Unless directory, remove trailing slash
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([^/]+)/$ http://example.com/folder/$1 [R=301,L]

# Redirect external .php requests to extensionless url
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^(.+)\.php([#?][^\ ]*)?\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(.+)\.php$ http://example.com/folder/$1 [R=301,L]

# Resolve .php file for extensionless php urls
RewriteRule ^([^/.]+)$ $1.php [L]Try:

Reference:

How to hide .php extension in .htaccess

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:17

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Apr 5, 2012 at 11:51

Wes Crow

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