: Where/how to put .htaccess files? I am trying to update/create a .htaccess file for my apache2 server so that my webpages can be accessed without file extensions (e.g. www.example.com/whatis.php

@Sarah324

Posted in: #Apache #Htaccess

I am trying to update/create a .htaccess file for my apache2 server so that my webpages can be accessed without file extensions (e.g. example.com/whatis.php can now be accessed as example.com/whatis/). I have tried following instructions on editing .htaccess and now created a .htaccess here:

/etc/apache2/sites-available/.htaccess


I tried reading up on .htaccess files here: httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/howto/htaccess.html http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/Htaccess

But I didn't find the docs helpful. My understanding is I have to put a file named ".htaccess" at each level/directory where I want to give the server specific instructions. So since I want the server to cut off the .php extension of all files, I created the .htaccess file at the location above and put this inside it:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^([^/.]+)/?$ .php [L]


However even after restarting my apache2 server, I still cannot shorten the pathname - if I try to load the pathname minus the .php, the page is not found. I am guessing the problem is with my .htaccess file rather than the code.

So long story short, where should I put my .htaccess file and how do these work in general? If there's a recommended resource out there, I'm interested. Thank you.

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