[PHP] Pretty URLs - Having $_GET after

[Phrate]

Note: This is not a request on how to do pretty URLs.

Okay, so I've gotten these pesky bastards down (.htaccess) and now I've run into a problem.

I want to be able to have $_GET variables still available to use after the Pretty URL.

Example:
http://example.com/user/John?var=5

I've seen it done in many places, such as Facebook, but have yet to learn how to actually do it.

[Michael]

Facebook doesn't use them anywhere as far as I know.

However, there's more to it than just them being "pretty", they're actually much more SEO friendly than having the $_GET visible within the URL.

As such you should include the $_GET into the .htaccess. ie:

example.com/user/John?var=5
becomes:
example.com/user/John/var/5

[Peter]

Good article on SEO and Query Strings...

blog.tripledogs.com/seo-and-query-strings

Also for your rewrite rules, you can tell the rules to append the query string (GET) by using the flag QSA.

Example:

RewriteRule ^apples/?$ apples.php [QSA]

Though you will probably want 2 more flags, 1 for No Case, and 1 for Last Rule...

RewriteRule ^apples/?$ apples.php [QSA,L,NC]

Edit: here is a cheat sheet if you are unsure of the flags semlabs.co.uk/journal/mod_rewrite-quick-reference-and-cheat-sheet

[Michael]

Peter, does the "L" flag speed anything up, compared to not having it - ie if you have subsequent .htaccess rules?

[Peter]

No idea, though the reason for having it is to prevent anymore rewrites being done, so in that case I suppose it would as it wouldn't be using the rewrite engine

[Charles Stover]

It wouldn't have to check against other patterns, so it should speed it up. Albeit probably not noticeably. I use it just to prevent accidental errors.