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# Rewrite numeric URLs

RewriteRule ^Products/P([0-9]*)\.html$ /product.php?product_id=$1 [L]

2.

Switch back to your browser again, and this time load

http://seophp.example.com/

Products/P1.html

. If everything works as it should, you will get the output that’s shown

in Figure 3-7.

Figure 3-7

3.

You can check that the rule really works, even for IDs formed of more digits. Loading

http://seophp.example.com/Products/P123456.html

would give you the output

shown in Figure 3-8.

Figure 3-8

Congratulations! The exercise was quite short, but you’ve written your first regular expression! Take a

closer look at your new rewrite rule:

RewriteRule ^Products/P([0-9]*)\.html$ /product.php?product_id=$1 [L]

If this is your first exposure to regular expressions, it must look scary! Just take a deep breath and read

on: we promise, it’s not as complicated as it looks.

Appendix A contains a gentler introduction to regular expressions.

56

Chapter 3: Provocative SE-Friendly URLs

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