How to Set Up Redirects and Rewrite Rules with .htaccess

The .htaccess file is a powerful configuration tool that lets you control how your web server handles requests. On dotCanada's LiteSpeed-powered hosting, .htaccess rules work seamlessly and take effect immediately - no server restart required.

Basic Redirects

Simple redirects can be set up with the Redirect directive:

Redirect 301 /old-page.html https://yourdomain.com/new-page/

Use 301 for permanent redirects (passes SEO value) and 302 for temporary ones.

URL Rewriting with mod_rewrite

For dynamic rewrites, enable the rewrite engine and define rules:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^blog/([0-9]+)/?$ blog.php?id=$1 [L,QSA]

This rewrites /blog/42/ to blog.php?id=42 without changing the visible URL.

Redirecting HTTP to HTTPS

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

Redirecting www to Non-www

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

Common .htaccess Flags

  • [L] - Stop processing rules after this one
  • [R=301] - Redirect with the given status code
  • [NC] - Case-insensitive matching
  • [QSA] - Append query string to rewritten URL

If your rewrite rules aren't working as expected, contact our support team and we'll help you sort it out.

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