what's the difference between these two htaccess lines?

[EliteRides]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://(www\.)?.*(-|.)blah(-|.).*$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://(www\.)?blah.*$ [OR]

This part

?.*(-|.)blah(-|.).*$

vs

?blah.*$

Are they essentially the same? Or, should I have both in redirecting a specific referring url?

[Connie]

There are several ways to do a redirect using mod_rewrite. This is what I use. the Options + is turned on by default on most servers but I use it just in case.


This redirects domain.com to www.domain.com
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domain\.com
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [R=permanent,L]

If your doing an internal redirect then all you need is
Redirect permanent /old-page.htm http://www.domain.com/new-page.htm

[jason]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://(www\.)?.*(-|.)blah(-|.).*$ [OR]

This one matches:
* the http:// [^http://]
* an optional www. [www\.)?]
* any number of additional characters [.*]
* a dash or any character [(-|.)] (though I suspect (-|\.) [dash or period] is intended
* the literal string "blah" [blah]
* the dash or char/dash or period thing again [(-|.)]
* any additonal characters to the end of the line [.*$]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://(www\.)?blah.*$ [OR]

This one is a little different. It matches:
* the http:// [^http://]
* an optional www. [www\.)?]
* the literal string "blah" [blah]
* any additonal characters to the end of the line [.*$]

The difference is subtle, but important. The second would match things like blah.com, blahblah.com, blah-whatever.com (all with or without www on the beginning).

The first would match yadda-blah-whatever.com, yadda.blah.whatever.com or (as writen) yaddablahwhatever.com.

Essentially the first would catch anything with 'blah' somewhere in the URL whereas the second would only catch domain names that start with 'blah.'

--Jason