.htaccess Remove WWW from URL + Directories

Question

This seems to be a non-issue for many people (read: I can't find an answer), but I would like to update the following htaccess code to not only remove the 'www' from the URL, but also any sub-directories that are accessed.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.+)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://%1/$1 [R=301,L]

With this, http://www.example.com/any/ resolves fine, but I want it to redirect to http://example.com/any/ as with the root.

Brandon

Answer 1

I had the same problem (trouble stripping 'www' from URLs that point to a sub-directory on an add-on domain), but after some trial and error, this seems to work for me:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,QSA,NC,L]

Premeditate

This also works for the same link without 'prettifying' the URL, e.g. http://www.addondomain.com/projects/a/index.php?where=gallery&cid=4&id=2 -> http://addondomain.com/projects/a/index.php?where=gallery&cid=4&id=2 – Premeditate

Good answer - this works generically without any editing... just drop it in to your .htaccess file and you're awway. – Bough

This is currently the best answer to removing www from your host address because you don't hard code a domain name so you can easily push your changes to your remote server without a need to modify .htaccess . Thanks for your answer. – Vanadous

worked perfect. note: it most be after "RewriteEngine on" exactly :) – Marienthal

What if user enters https://www.domain.com/log-me-in? He will be redirected to http. So I need another rewrite from http to https right? – Cystine

This must add before RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d – Baroscope

Works like a charm :) Completly removed the www for addon domains and main domain. – Dioecious

@Cystine Yes you do, RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301] – Ad

Answer 2

Redirection code for both non-www => www and opposite www => non-www. No hardcoding domains and schemes in .htaccess file. So origin domain and http/https version will be preserved.

APACHE 2.4 AND NEWER

NON-WWW => WWW:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_SCHEME}://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

WWW => NON-WWW:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_SCHEME}://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

Note: not working on Apache 2.2 where %{REQUEST_SCHEME} is not available. For compatibility with Apache 2.2 use code below or replace %{REQUEST_SCHEME} with fixed http/https.

---

APACHE 2.2 AND NEWER

NON-WWW => WWW:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
RewriteRule ^ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{HTTPS} on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
RewriteRule ^ https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

... or shorter version ...

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTPS}s ^on(s)|offs
RewriteRule ^ http%1://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

WWW => NON-WWW:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ http://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{HTTPS} on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ https://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

... shorter version not possible because %N is available only from last RewriteCond ...

Pantisocracy

+1 for version options.. Question: shouldn't the NE flag be used? .. it'd be fine without it if you assume this will only 'hit' when the url is typed manually, but what about any outdated 'www.' links 'in the wild'. I just found one such link forgotten in an ancient email template :P – Velarium

@Velarium No, NE flag (noescape) should not be used in this case. URL example.com/?a=1&b=2 is correctly redirected to e.g. www.example.com/?a=1&b=2. That flag should be used when you have special chars in URL in .htaccess to redirect to e.g. RewriteRule "^/anchor/(.+)" "/bigpage.html#$1" [NE,R] (# will not be escaped on redirect thanks to NE flag). – Pantisocracy

Great resource, @mikep. One note, in my case, I had to use %{ENV:HTTPS} and not %{HTTPS}. – Iglesias

@Iglesias yes, it depends on situation, but standard variable in apache-only configuration is %{HTTPS} but when you use something custom like SetEnvIf X-HTTPS on HTTPS=on (X-HTTPS comes from proxy before apache such as nginx) then you must use mentioned %{ENV:HTTPS} – Pantisocracy

Answer 3

I think you're close, but try the following:

# force non-www domain
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.example\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) http://example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Not sure exactly what you mean about sub-directories, but this follows your example.

Lenalenard

My apologies, I meant that http://www.example.com and http://www.example.com/any/ should be redirected to http://example.com and http://example.com/any/ respectively. The current setup only allows the root to redirect. – Brandon

I just tried it another domain, and it does work. I'm curious why then it isn't working on the one I am trying. Thanks for replying anyways. *Now I know why it is a non-issue for most people. – Brandon

I take that back, it does not work. Example http://www.avdra.com/00.districts/06/index.php. It does work however on http://www.avdra.com. – Brandon

I think I just figured out the issue. This htaccess code does not work on addon domains for URLs that point to a sub-directory. – Brandon

This was a HostGator issue for anybody having the same problem. They had to solve it on their end. – Brandon

Answer 4

I use this code. If my visitor does not have www in his url then this condition adds www with url, otherwise no need to add www with url ( because he already has. :) )

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}  !^www\.YOUR-SITE\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.YOUR-SITE.com/$1 [L,R]

Dukey

Answer 5

Hello, the code works perfectly, except that it passes with the www in a url with some value and slash at the end it shows the parameter and value in the url.

RewriteEngine On SetOutputFilter DEFLATE AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html text/plain text/xml RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule ^(!.(\.gif|\.jpg|\.png|\.swf|\.css|\.js|\.txt|\.php|\.htm|\.html)|.+[^/])$ /$1/ [R=301,NC] RewriteRule ^(.[^.*]+)\/$ ?jogar=$1 [NC] Options -Indexes Options +FollowSymLinks RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.*)$ [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http:\/\/%1%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,QSA,NC,L]

Counterirritant