removing multiple groups of slashes everywhere in URL in .htaccess

Question

I currently have a website where guests are able to access each url with any number of slashes to separate folder names. For example, if a URL is supposed to be:

http://example.com/one/two/three/four

Then users could access the same page via any of the following:

http://example.com/one//two///three////four///// http://example.com/one/two////three/four///// http://example.com///one///////////two////three/four/ http://example.com///////////one///////////two/three/four

However, I want the above example urls to only redirect users to this URL:

http://example.com/one/two/three/four

This is my .htaccess file to attempt to stop the enormous slashes:

RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} !^$ RewriteRule .* - [L] RewriteRule ^(.*)/+$ /$1 [R=301,L,NC] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/+(.*)/+$ RewriteRule .* /%1 [R=301,L]

The third line successfully stops trailing slashes on long URLs. The 4th and 5th lines are my attempt to stop trailing slashes right after the domain name, but that was unsuccessful.

The reason why I ask this question is because I don't want google to catch me for duplicate content and with adsense active on the site, google will likely scan all the URLs that I access.

Is there a RewriteCond/RewriteRule combo I can use to strip the middle slashes or is it more involved?

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-04 06:31:02Z

22

You can use this rule for removing multiple slashes anywhere in URL except query string:

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \s[^?]*// RewriteRule ^.*$ /$0 [R=302,L,NE]

edited Nov 4, 2020 at 6:31

answered Aug 11, 2015 at 5:34

anubhava

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8 Comments

anubhava Over a year ago

e.g. https://localhost///////////one///////////two//////////three/four/////// will become https://localhost/one/two/three/four/ in a single redirect.

DeDee Over a year ago

Definitely works, @Mike you should accept this answer. Thanks anubhava.

anubhava Over a year ago

It will work with any number of slashes more than one

anubhava Over a year ago

@MarisB. It is not always easy to find documentation reference for all the features. Documentation is scattered in multiple places but this is an established fact that multiple // get converted to single / in the pattern of RewriteRule

MrWhite Over a year ago

@MarisB. It's not the $0 backreference itself that reduces multiple slashes. As you state, $0 simply contains the whole string matched by the pattern. In a directory (or .htaccess) context, the RewriteRule pattern matches against the URL-path after it has been mapped to the filesystem. It is the process of mapping the request to the filesystem that reduces multiple slashes. Conversely, the same directive does not work if used in a server or virtualhost context - which is processed before the request is mapped to the filesystem (when multiple slashes have not been reduced).

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weblegko · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-09 19:37:02Z

1

This works for me:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*)//(.*)$ RewriteRule . %1/%2 [R=301,L]

edited Nov 9, 2017 at 19:37

answered Sep 1, 2017 at 14:59

weblegko

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