Refresh URL on custom 404 error page

Question

I have apache rewriting engine module turned on and a custom 404 error page configured this way on .htaccess file: ErrorDocument 404 /not_found.php

When I try to access to some page that do not exist the 404 error page is displayed. My problem is that I want the URL on address bar to be updated instead of having the non-existent URL. How can I do this? Thanks

Why would you want that? This is a bad idea in regard to search engines, which will, if you redirect to the URL of your 404 script, not get to see a 404 status code for the resource they originally requested – which will make them think, that resource might actually exist. — C3roe
– C3roe, Commented Nov 22, 2015 at 18:17
So you are telling me that this is the normal behaviour? Having a page loaded and a URL of a non existing one.. — notGeek
– notGeek, Commented Nov 22, 2015 at 18:41

NexAdn · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-22 18:20:33Z

3

This would work: .htaccess:

ErrorDocument 404 /my404redirect.htm

my404redirect.htm:

<html>
    <head>
        <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=/not_found.php" />
    </head>
</html>

This would show a 404 the my404redirect.htm which redirects the user to you not_found.php. It's not the finest way, but it works fast and easy. You should also add a in your robots.txt a line to prevent search engines from showing your 404 file.

answered Nov 22, 2015 at 18:20

NexAdn

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2 Comments

notGeek Over a year ago

Thanks for your reply :) This should work but what I really want to know is if it is possible to do that without a redirect..

NexAdn Over a year ago

I can't say that this is true, but I the URL that is shown in your browser is independent from the server. The server will never send the URL that has to be shown in your browser, so the only way to change the URL would be a redirect. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

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