Pretty URLs in PHP frameworks

This is usually done by routing all requests to a single entry point (a file that executes different code based on the request) with a rule like:

# Redirect everything that doesn't match a directory or file to index.php RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteRule .* index.php [L] 

This file then compares the request ($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]) against a list of routes - a mapping of a pattern matching the request to a controller action (in MVC applications) or another path of execution. Frameworks often include a route that can infer the controller and action from the request itself, as a backup route.

A small, simplified example:

<?php // Define a couple of simple actions class Home { public function GET() { return 'Homepage'; } } class About { public function GET() { return 'About page'; } } // Mapping of request pattern (URL) to action classes (above) $routes = array( '/' => 'Home', '/about' => 'About' ); // Match the request to a route (find the first matching URL in routes) $request = '/' . trim($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], '/'); $route = null; foreach ($routes as $pattern => $class) { if ($pattern == $request) { $route = $class; break; } } // If no route matched, or class for route not found (404) if (is_null($route) || !class_exists($route)) { header('HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found'); echo 'Page not found'; exit(1); } // If method not found in action class, send a 405 (e.g. Home::POST()) if (!method_exists($route, $_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"])) { header('HTTP/1.1 405 Method not allowed'); echo 'Method not allowed'; exit(1); } // Otherwise, return the result of the action $action = new $route; $result = call_user_func(array($action, $_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"])); echo $result; 

Combined with the first configuration, this is a simple script that will allow you to use URLs like domain.com/about. Hope this helps you make sense of what's going on here.