Apache .htaccess timestamp

apache-2.2cache

I'm trying to do some cache mechanism where I create cache files in php that have names like: test_page_20110122_23.html (test_page_[php date('Ymd_G)].html)

The plan is to serve these files without php, strictly by using only apache (or later nginx).
But in order to do that I have to write a rewrite rule that has the current date and time variables, eg:

RewriteCond /cache/%{REQUEST_FILENAME} _ {Ymd}{G}.html -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /cache/$1{Ymd}_{G}.html [L]

The only problem that I have is how to get these time variables in .htacces

Best Answer

You can do that in apache using mod_rewrite like this

RewriteCond /cache/%{REQUEST_FILENAME}_%{TIME_YEAR}%{TIME_MONTH}%{TIME_DAY}_%{TIME_HOUR}.html -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /cache/$1_%{TIME_YEAR}%{TIME_MONTH}%{TIME_DAY}_%{TIME_HOUR}.html [L]

Related Solutions

Apache mod_rewrite, using current URL in RewriteCond

You can access the "current" URI via a backreference. From the RewriteRule documentation...

TestString is a string which can contain the following expanded constructs in addition to plain text:

RewriteRule backreferences: These are backreferences of the form $N (0 <= N <= 9), which provide access to the grouped parts (in parentheses) of the pattern, from the RewriteRule which is subject to the current set of RewriteCond conditions.

You can handle the initial slash more cleanly too — the request URI always starts with a /. (The shortest request you can make is GET / HTTP/1.0.) The solution is...

# Map '/' to '/home'
RewriteRule ^/$ /home

# Check for cached page
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/system/cache/$1.html -f
RewriteRule ^/(.+)$ /system/cache/$1.html [QSA,L]

Mod_rewrite REQUEST_FILENAME doesn’t contain absolute path

Took me a while to find out as well, but the reason is mentioned in the mod_rewrite documentation:

REQUEST_FILENAME The full local filesystem path to the file or script matching the request, if this has already been determined by the server at the time REQUEST_FILENAME is referenced. Otherwise, such as when used in virtual host context, the same value as REQUEST_URI.

That's why it works in .htaccess but not in the conf file of the vhost. (And that's also why adding the DOCUMENT_ROOT works around the problem).

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Apache mod_rewrite, using current URL in RewriteCond

Mod_rewrite REQUEST_FILENAME doesn’t contain absolute path

Related Topic