.htaccess Configuration Guide

This guide covers common .htaccess configurations and examples for Apache web servers.

Common Use Cases

URL Rewriting

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

# Remove .html extension
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.html -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.html [NC,L]

Error Pages

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

Directory Protection

# Password protect a directory
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Restricted Access"
AuthUserFile /path/to/.htpasswd
Require valid-user

PHP Settings

# Set PHP values
php_value upload_max_filesize 64M
php_value post_max_size 64M
php_value max_execution_time 300

Security Headers

# Add security headers
Header set X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block"
Header set X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN"
Header set X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
Header set Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin"

Performance Optimization

Enable Caching

# Cache static assets
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
    ExpiresActive On
    ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"
</IfModule>

Enable Compression

# Enable GZIP compression
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain
    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html
    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml
    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css
    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml
    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xhtml+xml
    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/javascript
    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript
</IfModule>

Common Issues and Solutions

Additional Resources