How do I RewriteRule to /public/ but not allowing the user to access through /public/?

Question

I'm doing the following:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/public
RewriteRule /(.+) /public/$1

And it maps like this:

/           => index
/.+         => /public/$1
/public/.*  => Doesn't map, but it should map to /public/public/$1

I don't wan't /public/ to be accessible, how can I do that?

So you want them to be able to be rewritten to it but not access it directly? What problem could that possibly solve?
Being able to have a file named public in the public directory and be accessed from the root.

Olivier Pons · Answer 1 · 2011-11-12 21:54:33Z

Just write, as the #1 rule :

RewriteRule /public/(.*) - [F,L]

Then if someone wants to access to /public/ there will be a FORBIDDEN. After this rule, you may apply your rules.

;)

So your rules may look like:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule /public/(.*) - [F,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/public
RewriteRule /(.+) /public/$1

1 Answer