How to turn dynamic URL into static URL

Question

I am developing a website using PHP and Apache. I wanna turn my URLs from

www.example.com/book.php?book=title

into something like this, if it is possible of course:

www.example.com/book/title

Notice that the title of the books are unique and cannot be repeated.

I`ve read about this, but none of the posts were clear enough for a beginner like me. Do you guys know any tutorial that explains that?

Thanks.

Answer 1

The feature you're looking for is called 'url rewriting".

You can do it manually : you explain the pattern using regular expression, and the webserver translates the requests. With Apache it's commonly found under htaccess files, or directyl in the httpd.conf. see official doc. here : http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/misc/rewriteguide.html

It's not "that" easy to setup though, debugging regular expressions particularly.

Regarding your issue, try a rule like this :

RewriteEngine on 
RewriteRule ^book/(.*)$ book.php?book=$1 [L]

Another option, would be to use a php framework : most of time, this feature is built-in. You have to "learn" though how to use the framework. If your website is already finished, this is not the best option...

Answer 2

Here's the way kohana (and 99.99% of php frameworks) does it

Add an .htaccess file(if using apache)

# Turn on URL rewriting
RewriteEngine On

RewriteBase /

# Allow any files or directories that exist to be displayed directly
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

# Rewrite all other URLs to index.php/URL
RewriteRule .* index.php/$0 [PT,L]

This redirects all urls to index.php. index.php will be some sort of front controller that loads scripts based on the url

So in your example:

localhost/book/title

index.php would be loaded. It would go into the url and get the page (controller) to load that will actually do all the work. in this case maybe books.php. books.php would get the title of the book from the url and then search a database or do whatever it has to with that name.

Answer 3

Most solutions rely on mod_rewrite. See here for examples.

Answer 4

Expanding on @Rodolphe's and @Galen's replies a little bit.

If your needs for url rewriting are limited, a hardcoded .htaccess with rules described in Rodolphe's example will do nicely.

However, as Galen suggests, your needs may be unknown, or you may want to expand on them later, without the need to touch your rewriting rules, once you have them working.

A common way to do it, is to design your application around a URL scheme which is www.host.com/controller/action/parameter. An example of such a URL could be www.host.com/book/view/1, which could then internally be handled in a number of ways.

1)

You have separate scripts for every controller. You then rewrite every request to the form $controller.php?action=$action&param=$param, redirecting non-matching or non-valid requests to a default controller.

# Serve files and directories as per usual,
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !-d

# If the request uri doesn't end in .php
# and isn't empty, rewrite the url
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !.php$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^$
# Try matching against a param request first
RewriteRule (.*?)/(.*?)/(.*?) $1.php?action=$2&param=$3 [L]
# If it didn't match, try to match an action
RewriteRule (.*?)/(.*?) $1.php?action=$2 [L]

# redirect all other requests to index.php,
# your default controller
RewriteRule .* index.php [L]

2)

You have a single entry point (or a front controller) to which you redirect every request, and this front controller handles redirecting the request to the appropriate controller.

# Redirect all requests that isn't a file or 
# directory to your front controller
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !-d
RewriteRule .* index.php [L]

The generic fallback rules will not append any parametes to the default/front controller. However, since it is an internal redirect, you will have access to the REQUEST_URI in PHP to determine what you should be doing.

These are, naturally, not your only options. Just my 2 cents in the soup to stir a bit more.

Disclaimer: All of the above rewrite rules (as well as everything else, of course) are written straight off the top of my head (after a few beers) and haven't been tested anywhere.