Replace ? in request with RewriteRule

Question

Hi, I'm trying to make

site.com/link?p=2

give $_GET['p']==2 even though i've already made

site.com/link

rewrite to

site.com/index.php?page=link

So, i'm trying to replace site.com/link?p=2 with site.com/link&p=2

RewriteEngine on

RewriteRule (.*)\?(.*) $1\&$2

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\....$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?p=$1

It doesn't work!

Answer 1

RewriteRule cannot see query strings (the ? and anything after it) on the left-hand side; it matches only on the path part of the URL.

But the good news is, all you probably need to do is this:

RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !\....$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?p=$1 [QSA]

The QSA option, Query String Add, tells your RewriteRule to add to the query string instead of replacing it (the default behavior, which doubtless prompted the whole issue).