Return 404 in Apache if directory index file is requested directly

Question

My index files are the standard index.html. While GET /dir/ returns /dir/index.html, I would like to return a 404 status code to the request GET /dir/index.html. Is there a simple way to do this under Apache?

Answer 1

Use mod_rewrite:

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteRule ^/dir/(index.html)?$ /404 [L]