Htaccess 301 redirect one url to another with special characters doesnt work

Question

I need to 301 redirect one URL to another. Now I have this rule in .htaccess

RewriteRule /forum/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=6 /page/name-of-the-page [R=301]

RewriteRule /forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=5 /page/another-name-of-the-page [R=301]

But it doesnt work at all. Could please anybody help me with that?

Thank you very much in advance!

Answer 1

You cant match query string using RewriteRule. Use it like this:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^f=65&t=6$
RewriteRule ^forum/viewtopic\.php$ /page/name-of-the-page? [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^f=30&t=5$
RewriteRule ^forum/viewtopic\.php$ /page/another-name-of-the-page? [R=301,L]

? in the end is used to strip-off any existing query string.

Answer 2

RewriteRule /forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=5 /page/another-name-of-the-page [R=301]
RewriteRule /forum/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=6 /page/name-of-the-page [R=301]

just reverse the order and it should work!