how to use a rewrite rule to test the date in a cookie?

Question

I found out that you cannot use a RewriteCond backreference as a pattern condition in the next Rewrite Cond...

UPDATE: As it turns out, mod_rewrite doesn't expand any variables in the test pattern, so I am effectively only testing for the existence of the cookie... Any ideas on how to actually test the value instead of just the existence?

RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} niftyExpire=([^;\ ]+)
RewriteRule .*index.html /fake.html [E=niftyExpire:%1,C]
RewriteCond %{TIME} <{ENV:niftyExpire}
RewriteRule .*fake.html /pass.html [R,L]
RewriteRule .*index.html /fail.html [R,L]

Thanks,

-Eric

Answer 1

I'd comment instead if I had the rep...

I don't think you need the backslash you have in your examples. E.g.

RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} niftyExpire\=([^; ]+) [NC]

should just be

RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} niftyExpire=([^; ]+) [NC]

There a great resource here with some examples (not specifically about dates, but including rewrite rules based on a cookie's value):

http://www.askapache.com/htaccess/htaccess-fresh.html