Summary

The mod_rewrite module uses a rule-based rewriting engine, based on a PCRE regular-expression parser, to rewrite requested URLs on the fly. By default, mod_rewrite maps a URL to a filesystem path. However, it can also be used to redirect one URL to another URL, or to invoke an internal proxy fetch.

mod_rewrite provides a flexible and powerful way to manipulate URLs using an unlimited number of rules. Each rule can have an unlimited number of attached rule conditions, to allow you to rewrite URL based on server variables, environment variables, HTTP headers, or time stamps.

mod_rewrite operates on the full URL path, including the path-info section. A rewrite rule can be invoked in apache2.conf or in .htaccess. The path generated by a rewrite rule can include a query string, or can lead to internal sub-processing, external request redirection, or internal proxy throughput.

Further details, discussion, and examples, are provided in the detailed mod_rewrite documentation.

Logging

mod_rewrite offers detailed logging of its actions at the trace1 to trace8 log levels. The log level can be set specifically for mod_rewrite using the LogLevel directive: Up to level debug , no actions are logged, while trace8 means that practically all actions are logged.

Example

LogLevel alert rewrite:trace3

RewriteLog

Those familiar with earlier versions of mod_rewrite will no doubt be looking for the RewriteLog and RewriteLogLevel directives. This functionality has been completely replaced by the new per-module logging configuration mentioned above.

To get just the mod_rewrite -specific log messages, pipe the log file through grep:

tail -f error_log|fgrep '[rewrite:'