.htaccess form mod_rewrite

[khering]

I am trying to setup my first site. I want to use mod_rewrite to change the URL's on my site to make them more friendly for users and search engine robots. I got a sample script using Mod_Rewrite wizard and put it in .htaccess, but nothing seems to happen. Is there some configuration change that I need to make to enable mod_rewrite?
Here is the script:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^([^/]*)/([^/]*)\.html$ /index.php?DepartmentID=$1&ProductID=$2 [L]
It is supposed to change "www.giftsfromatree.com/index.php?DepartmentID=10&ProductID=88" to "http://www.giftsfromatree.com/10/88.html".

[Falcon1986]

Try the following instead and see if it works:


Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^([0-9]+)/([0-9A-Za-z]+)\.html$ /index.php?DepartmentID=$1&ProductID=$2

[khering]

I thought I replied earlier today, but I don't see it. Anyway, I tried your code, but my links did not change. I am assuming that when one of my links is selected, that the translated url should show in the address line - correct?

[Falcon1986]

Do you have anything else in your .htaccess file?

Are you using a particular commerce software to run your site? If so, have you checked the software's documentation to see the proper mod_rewrite statements used to modify the appearance of your links?

[khering]

nothing in .htaccess but your code now. The site is coded from scratch - guided by a book I bought. Nothing about mod_rewrite statements. I am trying to do this based on research I have done on SEO.

[shadmego]

When I was playing with mod_rewrite, I found that after I put the code in the .htaccess file, I had to go back into my html code and change my links to reflect the url I wanted to use:

old href value


<a href="index.php?DepartmentID=10&ProductID=88">


new href value


<a href="10/88.html">



Now that might not be exactly correct for your situation, but it was similar to what I had to do with some code I was trying to create. It wound up not working for me, but then, I know next to nothing about .htaccess and even less about mod_rewrite ...

~regards

[khering]

thanks for all the help - now I understand how to use mod_rewrite - it works just fine. Thanks again.