RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.example\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [QSA,L,R=301]

It will forward your users keeping their path and query string.
Example: http://test.com/page.html?affiliate_id=1 is redirected to http://www.test.com/page.html?affiliate_id=1

The 301 code that is also sent ensures search engines understand that this redirect is permanent which helps your site keep and maximize its SEO ranking.

I hope this helps, as always, ask your questions in the comments.

I use this method during development mostly, to block prying eyes from viewing my raw files and open indexes.

First of all, if your not already using a .htaccess file, create one in the directory of your choice, if you are using one, and don’t have the next line somewhere in your file, put this line at the top.

RewriteEngine On

This turns the RewriteEngine On. Which is required for blocking the IP’s.

RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !^192.168.1.100$
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

Add the above code underneath the RewriteEngine On and you will block any IPs other than the one listed, to add more IPs, copy the RewriteCond statement and change the IP address.

Alternitave to the above you can also:

Order Deny,Allow
Deny from 192.168.1.100
Deny from 192.168.1.101

Which works without mod_rewrite and relies on mod_access. Either/or, take your pick and use whichever one suits you best, results may vary.

I will make a online tool for this in a few days. Hope this comes in handy.

First things first, lets explain what SEO friendly web URLs can do.

1. They promote traffic as /home/ is easier to remember than index.php?page=home
2. They are easier for search engines to crawl, some search engines refuse to crawl anything after the ?
3. They are easier to maintain and keep permanent (even if you update your scripts).
4. They hide the chosen programming language from the visiting users.

All you require is an Apache webserver (common among webhosts) & a basic knowledge of PHP.
Lets take a look at my first example, create a file called ‘.htaccess‘ (period then htaccess):

# These hashes are comments, they will explain what I am doing.
# First things first, lets turn on the Rewrite Engine
RewriteEngine On
# Then lets define some rules
RewriteRule ^([a-z0-9]+)/$ /index.php?page=$1 [NC,L]

The brackets/parenthesis are used to start a variable, variables are stored in order and are numeric, this is used and referred to later in the Rule using a $1. The [a-z0-9] signifies it can be any alphabetic or numeric character, and the plus+ symbol means it has to be more than one character long. I used a-z0-9 instead of a global (.*) which matches anything because I consider it more secure.

The ^ and $ are a standard regular expression and signify beginning and end, so the user cannot add anything else, (aka. /home/blaaaa would be invalid) and the index.php?page=$1 points back to index.php. At the end of the line, parameters or options are defined. In this case NC stands for Case InSensItIvE and the L stands for Last Rule, so if that rule is triggered, no others are.

This example turns http://www.domain.com/downloads/ into http://www.domain.com/index.php?page=downloads.
If you would like to read up on index.php?page= methods, please review “Advanced Navigation using Includes“.

Other resources I found useful:

• Mod Rewrite Cheat Sheet (Great to print out)
• Apache docs on Mod Rewrite (For the more advanced)

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.