How to Redirect POST Request Data in .htaccess

Apache server allows you to redirect and rewrite URLs in many ways. But it does not preserve POST request data while redirecting URLs, by default. Sometimes you may need to retain POST data when you redirect URLs. In this article, we will look at how to redirect POST request data in .htaccess.

How to Redirect POST Request Data in .htaccess

Here are the steps to redirect POST request data using .htaccess.

1. Enable mod_rewrite

If you have already enabled mod_rewrite in Apache then you can skip this step. Otherwise, run the following commands to enable mod_rewrite, depending on your Linux system.

Ubuntu/Debian

Open terminal and run the following command to enable mod_rewrite

$ sudo a2enmod rewrite

Redhat/CentOS/Fedora

Open Apache configuration file in a text editor.

$ sudo vi /etc/apache2/httpd.conf

Look for the following line.

#LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

Uncomment it by removing # at its beginning. If you don’t find this line, add it afresh.

Also look for the following Directory tag and change AllowOverride from None to All.

. . .
<Directory /var/www/html>
. . .
 # 
 # AllowOverride controls what directives may be placed in .htaccess files.
 # It can be "All", "None", or any combination of the keywords:
 # Options FileInfo AuthConfig Limit
 #
 AllowOverride All
. . .
</Directory>
. . .

Also read : How to Exclude URL from Auth in Apache

2. Redirect Request POST data

Open/Create .htaccess file in a text editor.

$ sudo vi /var/www/html/.htaccess

Let us say you want to redirect POST request to www.example.com/file.php to www.example.com/sample.php along with its POST data, then simply add the following line in your .htaccess file.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^/file.php$ /sample.php [L,R=301,NC,P]

In the above RewriteRule, we use the following flags & characters,

^ – matches beginning of URL
$ – matches end of URL
L – stop processing after this rule
R=301 – permanent redirect
NC – case sensitive rule
P – get content via proxy

In the above rule, the P flag ensures that your POST data is preserved during redirection.

If the above RewriteRule does not work for you, try the following

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^/file.php$ /sample.php [L,R=307]

In the above rule, we use the following,

^ – matches beginning of URL
$ – matches end of URL
L – stop processing after this rule
R=307 – request must be repeated with same HTTP method and data

In the above rule, R=307 ensures that POST request data is preserved during redirection.

Also read : How to Exclude Folder from Rewrite Rule in .htaccess