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htaccessapacheserver configurationseosecurity

The Complete Guide to .htaccess

Master the .htaccess file - redirects, rewrites, security rules, caching, and common configurations explained.

June 20, 2024·8 min read

What is .htaccess?

.htaccess (hypertext access) is a configuration file for Apache web servers. It allows per-directory configuration without editing the main server config.

Common .htaccess Configurations

Force HTTPS

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

Remove www

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.(.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

Custom 404 page

ErrorDocument 404 /404.html
ErrorDocument 500 /500.html

Enable GZIP compression

<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
  AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html text/css application/javascript
</IfModule>

Browser caching

<IfModule mod_expires.c>
  ExpiresActive On
  ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 year"
  ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 1 month"
</IfModule>

Block bad bots

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (BadBot|SomeSpammer) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

Disable directory listing

Options -Indexes

.htaccess Performance

Note: .htaccess is parsed on every request. For high-traffic sites, prefer editing the main Apache config (httpd.conf) directly.

Generate your .htaccess with our .htaccess Generator.

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