CodeIgniter: How to disable "index.php" in URLs completely (disallow it if manually entered in URL)

Question

I'm using codeigniter and have been able to use url's without "index.php" in there, but if I manually type in "index.php", the urls still work. I'd like to disable access to "index.php/controller" type urls in order to avoid duplicate content penalty from Google.

Here is what my current .htaccess file looks like:

Options +FollowSymLinks

# Turn on URL rewriting
RewriteEngine On

# Installation directory
RewriteBase /

# Protect hidden files from being viewed
<Files .*>
 Order Deny,Allow
 Deny From All
</Files>

# Protect application and system files from being viewed
RewriteRule ^(?:application|modules|system)\b.* index.php/$0 [L]

# 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]

Answer 1

You can try this by replacing the last 3 lines with this

RewriteCond $1 !^(index\.php|robots\.txt)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [L,QSA]

or maybe simply by removing the last line of your .htaccess.

Also you might need to change your /config/config.php to

 $config['index_page'] = “”

Answer 2

The CI manual already gives you an (working) example on how to do it:

You can easily remove this file by using a .htaccess file with some simple rules. Here is an example of such a file, using the "negative" method in which everything is redirected except the specified items:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond $1 !^(index\.php|images|robots\.txt)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [L]

In the above example, any HTTP request other than those for index.php, images, and robots.txt is treated as a request for your index.php file.

Always be sure to check the manual first. It is really good and gives you an easy answer most of the time.