Rewriting URLs in htaccess for a dynamic webpage using database value?

Question

If I have a dynamic page, where it takes in an id parameter like example.com/posts.php?id=2, how do I make a RewriteRule in htaccess so that the url shows the title of the post rather than its id, so for example posts.php?id=2 shows a post with a title of "PHP is cool", I want the url to be rewritten like example.com/2/php-is-cool or something like that? Would that be possible if the title value is stored in a MySQL database?

Additional Info:

This is how my htaccess looks like:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mydomain\.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.mydomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

ErrorDocument 404 /index.php
ErrorDocument 403 /index.php
php_value post_max_size 20M

Basically, I have a MySQL database which stores blog posts in a table called posts. The posts table has an id attribute (which is the auto-increment primary key), a title attribute, and a content attribute. When I access mydomain.com/posts.php?id=X, it will show my post with an id of 'X' from the database on the webpage. I just want to be able to re-write the URL such that it shows the title of the page. I'm doing this primarily for SEO, not aesthetics. Is this possible using htaccess, or would I have to approach this differently?

That would be possible but not with the .htaccess file. Post some code so people can help. — Samson
– Samson, Commented Aug 18, 2012 at 21:18
@radashk I added some additional info to explain my situation more clearly. I don't think I need to post my server-side code as it's a very simple dynamic page with MySQL queries. Let me know if you need clarification on anything in particular. Thanks. — hesson
– hesson, Commented Aug 18, 2012 at 21:29

Lior Cohen · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-18 21:28:20Z

2

Rewrite rules apply to the way the URL is handled on your backend (apache). Using mod_rewrite to rewrite those URLs will not affect what the user is seeing in their browser's URL bar unless you redirect the user to a new URL (using a 302 redirect, for example), which would cause the browser to reload the page.

You can achieve what you're asking for using the HTML5 pushstate feature (with a fallback to URL hashes if pushstate is not supported in that browser).

Take a look at this URL for more details:

http://badassjs.com/post/840846392/location-hash-is-dead-long-live-html5-pushstate

Also, you could use BackboneJS and its Router feature to handle your page and URL handling logic in the browser.

http://backbonejs.org/#Router

This is a very application specific kind of solution and this answer cannot go into more details without knowing your exact configuration, application logic, etc.

edited Aug 18, 2012 at 21:28

answered Aug 18, 2012 at 21:21

Lior Cohen

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Alex Monthy · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-18 21:31:47Z

0

If you're doing it for SEO only, the easiest way is to pass all URLs to one single script which analyses the request and delivers the content from the database. Like in

RewriteRule (.*) index.php?url=$1

Of course you will have to exclude index.php from the rule.

answered Aug 18, 2012 at 21:31

Alex Monthy

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