Forward url's to another location

Question

I have a domain that doesn't have a website, but instead I would like to use that domain to forward to url's where I do have websites. Is the .htaccess file the way to go?

For example I have the domain example.com and want to forward differently based on the subdirectory:

www.example.com --> www.test.com

www.example.com/membership --> www.test.com/membership

Answer 1

If you are using Apache, you can have this information stored directly in the server configuration.

Documentation here: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/rewrite/remapping.html

You should be able to use any of the examples above directly in a .htaccess file too if that is your preferred method.

It might be better to implement your redirect in the server configuration if it is a permanent move, however a .htaccess file should be fine.

Edit: I've added code to add to a .htaccess , the first redirects all traffic to the new domain, the second redirects to the new domain whilst maintaining subdirectory paths.

Redirect All:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.newdomain.com/ [R=301,L]

Maintain Subdirectory Paths:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Answer 2

You can bootstrap everything to index.php?path=$1 using mod_rewrite and make intelligent decisions there using header('Location: <URL>'); in case you need to change it later or you have some very specific requirements.

Otherwise, .htaccess should be ok. (probably better for simple redirections)

Answer 3

Yes you can use .htaccess if you have a server with Apache installed.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.example.com[nc]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.test.com/$1 [r=301]

You can also do in similar way on other web servers like nginx or lighttpd.

Rewrite rules are generated from here.