.htaccess syntax checking

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 4:23 pm

Is there a site that can check syntax of an .htaccess file that you use and trust? I am trying to verify that my .htaccess file is working correctly and one site shows many errors... However the errors it reports are ones that appear to work... Try another site, and well, lets just say there is much inconsistency between the .htaccess syntax checkers. Very Happy

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 9:59 pm

To be honest, I don't think there is such a beast.
A lot of the directives should always be wrapped in the appropriate ifMdodule, in an effort to stop directives being executed if it isn't supported by the server. The Catch22 is that some servers do allow a specific directive but actually not allow the 'test' to see if the directive can be used - go figure!
So from that stand point, you cannot really test if an htaccess file is good or bad.

The only thing I I can say is that htaccess directives are executed in the order they are written (top to bottom). I order mine like this;
ban IP's
ban referrers
ban strings
ban exploits
error handling
shortlinks

I know NS puts IP's at the bottom but periodically I move them to the top because I don't see why I should be processing all those re-writes for Shortlinks if the IP/Domain should already be banned from getting that far.

Site Admin/Owner Joined: Aug 27, 2002 Posts: 17088

TAd wrote:

Is there a site that can check syntax of an .htaccess file that you use and trust? I am trying to verify that my .htaccess file is working correctly and one site shows many errors... However the errors it reports are ones that appear to work... Try another site, and well, lets just say there is much inconsistency between the .htaccess syntax checkers. Very Happy

Have you Googled for .htaccess syntax checker?

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 3:15 am

Thank you Guardian, I will have to mull that information over. I had thought about cleaning up the htaccess a bit as it is getting a bit messy.

Raven, Yes I have, and ran my htaccess file through several of them. And therein is the problem. Never having used them before I am not sure which one to "trust" and they are all providing very different results. In a nutshell, that is what brought me here, to ask for opinions and or user experiences.

Thank you,
TAd