URL Rewrite blanket redirect with directory exceptions

Question

I have a website that employs a generic mod_rewrite rule to push all requests to the index.php page, with the exception of certain file extensions:

RewriteRule !\.(js|ico|gif|jpg|JPG|png|css|php|phtml|pdf|txt|xml)$ index.php

What I need to be able to do is also exclude a certain directory (including any files or sub-directories contained within) from this rule - what is the best solution?

Here is my full .htaccess file, in case something else within it is intefering:

RewriteEngine ON
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\..*
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}   !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^([^.]*)\.(co\.uk)
RewriteRule ^.*$     http://www.%1.%2%{REQUEST_URI} [R=permanent,L]

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .phtml

RewriteRule !\.(js|ico|gif|jpg|JPG|png|css|php|phtml|pdf|txt|xml)$ index.phtml

php_value display_errors "On"

Answer 1

You could check with RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f for any request that doesn't match to an existing filename.

Answer 2

Before the line you have quoted, for a directory named 'style' for instance, you need:

RewriteRule  ^style/  -  [L]

The hyphen means 'no redirection', and the '[L]' means 'last rule', as in don't carry on trying to match the URL to the follwing rules. You can put as many of these lines in as you like, but they must be before the line you give in the question.