I am getting dirty with .htaccess this week because I have two clients who are moving sites.

Basic question:
What is the difference between these two statements and is one considered preferable to the other?

RewriteEngine On
RedirectMatch 301 foo bar

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule foo bar [R=301,L]

anyone

The simple answer is they use different modules.

RedirectMatch uses mod_alias, RewriteRule uses mod_rewrite.


The longer answers is:

RedirectMatch (mod_alias) is a relatively simple method of 'redirecting', that creates an "alias" for the actual document location. Think of it as being similar to a Unix SymLink or a Windows shortcut, where, when you click "My Documents" it actually opens drive:\users\username\documents\


RewriteRule (mod_rewrite) is much more flexible system and therefore more complex and I'm not even going to try and explain how it works in a forum post.
I'll leave that to Neil Crosby. >> http://www.workingwith.me.uk/article...ng/mod_rewrite

OK. Thank you. That explains what the difference is.

But is one considered BEST PRACTICE vs the other?
Is it 6 of one and half dozen of the other?

Are there any SEO benefits of one vs the other? (I dont imagine so).

Best practice is to use the one that meets the requirements of what you need to do. A fairly simple A >> B probably only needs a RedirectMatch, if the URLs have two or more parameters rewrite rules are needed.

Are there any SEO benefits of one vs the other? (I dont imagine so).

Absolutely none whatsoever.

You do need to be aware that .htaccess rules are read and applied from top to bottom AND that that any HTTP request may or will load the .htaccess twice because a redirect/rewrite event creates an second, internal request for the new URL. So ensure that there are no conflicts that could attempt to rewrite or redirect an already rewritten URL.

Originally Posted by chrishirst

So ensure that there are no conflicts that could attempt to rewrite or redirect an already rewritten URL.

hmm. Good point. thanks for that.