How to throw a 404 error from htaccess?

Question

Everything I find seems to be about created a custom 404 page.

That is not what I am trying to do.

If I want to block access to a page I can do this in htaccess:

RewriteRule pattern - [F]

However, "Forbidden" hints that the page does exists. I want the page to appear to not even exist. So I would like to give a 404 error instead of a 403. Then have it render whatever 404 page would render if the resource really wasn't there.

How can I do that?

Answer 1

The documentation and AskApache suggest that you can simply use Redirect 404.

Answer 2

Redirect 404 will work but will execute across all domains pointing to your vhost. Since you're using multiple domains, you'll want to use RewriteRule:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?example\.com$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^microsite\.someotherexample\.net$
RewriteRule ^path/to/page/?$ - [R=404,NC,L]

Answer 3

Simple:

RewriteEngine On
Redirect 404

And check you have on the Apache configuration the AllowOverride sentence with FileInfo or All to allow this type of .htaccess.

Answer 4

...what about actually removing it (or renaming it, or moving it away...)?

What's the point anyway of having it there if you want to make it not accessible at all?