I grabbed this turnkey directory script that i am fixing up and i am good with fixing the php and sql bugs but i am not familiar with htaccess rewrites.

Some of my listings are normal like "Eat Place" and others are "Joe's Eat Place" and I am not sure how to get rid of the apostrophe(s).

Free help is great but I would be glad to shoot a $10 spot for a hand.

ErrorDocument 404 /404err.php

Options +FollowSymlinks
#php_value magic_quotes_gpc off
RewriteEngine on

RewriteRule ^FCKeditor/(.*) FCKeditor/$1 [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^search/(.*)$ search_results.php?key=$1&keyword=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^browse/(.*)$ search_results.php?key=$1&type=tags [L]
RewriteRule ^place/(.*)$ search_results.php?keyword=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^user/(.*)/tags/(.*)/from/(.*)$ profile.php?user_id=$1&tags=$2&from=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^user/(.*)$ profile.php?user_id=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*).html$ listings.php?catname=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)/(.*)/(.*).htm$ listing_details.php?bname=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)/(.*)/(.*)/(.*).htm$ listing_details.php?bname=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)/(.*)/(.*).htm$ listing_details.php?bname=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)/(.*).htm$ listing_details.php?bname=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*).htm$ listing_details.php?bname=$1 [L]

from my regexp library, no idea where I got it from originally

# remove apostrophes from a string
Rewriterule ^([^/]*)'([^/]*)$ $1$2 [N,E=redirect:1]

This line should go immediately before your redirect Rewriterule

If you want to know how it works group 1 ($1) matches all characters from the string start (^) to the literal apostrophe ('). Group 2 ($2) matches all characters from the literal to the string end ($) then concatenates $1 & $2. The [N] (Next) flag tells the regex engine to loop around the rules using the new string as a start point until no matches occur.
The [E] flag set an environment variable 'redirect' to 1 so Apache can keep track of what needs to happen when the regex engine finishes

Originally Posted by chrishirst

If you want to know how it works...

Answer...always!

I will test this out and get you some feedback here soon. Thank you

I found a tutorial online with the same solution but I could not get it to work for me. Do i have it placed correctly?

ErrorDocument 404 /404err.php

Options +FollowSymlinks
#php_value magic_quotes_gpc off
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^FCKeditor/(.*) FCKeditor/$1 [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteBase /
Rewriterule ^([^/]*)'([^/]*)$ $1$2 [N,E=redirect:1]
RewriteRule ^search/(.*)$ search_results.php?key=$1&keyword=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^browse/(.*)$ search_results.php?key=$1&type=tags [L]
RewriteRule ^place/(.*)$ search_results.php?keyword=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^user/(.*)/tags/(.*)/from/(.*)$ profile.php?user_id=$1&tags=$2&from=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^user/(.*)$ profile.php?user_id=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*).html$ listings.php?catname=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)/(.*)/(.*).htm$ listing_details.php?bname=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)/(.*)/(.*)/(.*).htm$ listing_details.php?bname=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)/(.*)/(.*).htm$ listing_details.php?bname=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)/(.*).htm$ listing_details.php?bname=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*).htm$ listing_details.php?bname=$1 [L]

Also, I took a look at how the link is formatted on the page itself and does not seem to have anything special about it and have not (yet) found anything outside of the .htaccess file that would cause a rewrite.

<a href="<?=SITE_PATH?>listing_details.php?id=<?php print $line[id]?>"  class="blue_txt"><?php echo ucwords(stripslashes($line['title'])); ?></a>