Why won't this mod_rewrite rule work (via .htaccess one specific url to another)

Question

RewriteRule ^/tag/term$ /tag/term-expanded-here [R]

Answer 1

If you’re using mod_rewrite in a .htaccess file, you need to remove the path prefix from the pattern:

When using the rewrite engine in .htaccess files the per-directory prefix (which always is the same for a specific directory) is automatically removed for the pattern matching and automatically added after the substitution has been done.

In case of the .htaccess file in the document root directory it’s the leading /:

RewriteRule ^tag/term$ /tag/term-expanded-here [R]