Change displayed URL using htaccess

Question

How could I rewrite my URL using HTACCESS?

When a visitor visits index.php, I want the URL to be rewritten to something else, although the visitor will remain on the index.php page.

This is what I've tried (I did research this before asking but couldn't solve it myself):

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^index.php$ testingit.php

Basically, I just wanted to change index.php to 'testingit.php', just to see if it would work.

Answer 1

You can use this code in your testwebsite/.htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /testwebsite/

# external redirect from actual URL to pretty one
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} /index\.php[?\s] [NC]
RewriteRule ^ home [R=302,L,NE]

# internal forward from pretty URL to actual one
RewriteRule ^home/?$ index.php [L,NC]

Answer 2

So here's how you do it:

redirect *** /index.php http://www.yoursite.com/testingit.php

You need to replace *** with one of the following:

301-For a permanent redirect meaning browsers update bookmarks etc.

or

302-For a temporary redirect

Here's a link to a guide I found:

https://www.branded3.com/blog/htaccess-mod_rewrite-ultimate-guide/

Hope this helps :)

To make pretty URL's:

RewriteEngine On    # Turn on the rewriting engine
RewriteRule    ^home/?$    index.php    [NC,L]