How to remove file extension (.php, .html) from url with .htaccess

    RahulBy 2 Mins ReadUpdated:

    The SEO experts say, there is no effect on SEO if your website URLs have .php, .htm, or .html extensions in their URL. Then why do we need to remove these extensions from the URLs? As per experts says and my opinion that there are multiple benefits of not having file extensions in the URL, like:

    • Back-end technology is hidden from end users. But it’s still not hard to identify the technology for experts.
    • The best pros of this are that we can easily change backend technology without affecting the SEO of the pages.
    • Read more about .htaccess here

    To implement it, first, you need to create a .htaccess file. Put it under the website document root. Then add the setting in the file as per your requirement to remove file extensions.

    Removing .php Extension from URL

    For example, You need to change URL from http://example.com/demo.php to http://example.com/demo. Edit .htaccess file and add following settings.

    RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ $1.php [NC,L]

    Now, If user accessed /demo in the browser, it will show the content from /demo.php. But still, if any user typed completed URL as http://example.com/demo.php, this will not redirect. Now you need to add some more rules to the .htaccess file.

    RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} /([^.]+)\.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^ /%1 [NC,L,R]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.php [NC,L]

    Removing .html Extension from URL

    For example you need to convert your URL from http://example.com/demo.html to http://example.com/demo. Edit .htaccess file and add following settings:

    RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ $1.html [NC,L]

    Now, If user accessed /demo in the browser, it will show the content from /demo.html. Now, You may need to redirect users which typed the complete URL as http://example.com/demo.html to the new URL http://example.com/demo

    RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} /([^.]+)\.html [NC]
RewriteRule ^ /%1 [NC,L,R]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.html [NC,L]
    Share.

    Related Posts

    34 Comments

    3. Ganesh Kumar on

      I am working html website my file name index.html but only show index ? Please help me which place to write a rewrite queries

      Reply
    6. Fey on

      Hi, Rahul.. thanks it works,

      but, what if :

      localhost/test/index.php
      to
      localhost/test/index.html or another ext.

      automatic rewrite rules same as the your content.. please help ! thanks before

      Reply
      • sagar wadke on

        The code was provided in this blog only.

        RewriteEngine on
        RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} /([^.]+)\.html [NC]
        RewriteRule ^ /%1 [NC,L,R]

        RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
        RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.html [NC,L]

        Reply
    9. lakshman on

      Hi, In my .htaccess write below code for URL displaying purpose
      RewriteBase /
      RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
      RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
      RewriteRule ^request-quote?$ quote.php [NC,L]

      my URL now like https://mywebsite,com/request-quote this one show quote.php when google indexed old URL’s are like https://mywebsite.com/quote.php in this case we need URL change to same like “https://mywebsite,com/request-quote”. Any possibility I am struct here 16 hours I researched but no use please help me.

      Reply
    12. Deepak on

      It working but with ajax i facing some variable value passing issue , (undefined warning )

      var dataString = ’email=’+ email + ‘&password=’+ password + ‘&jsremem=’+jsremem+ ‘&previousurl=’+previousurl;

      $.ajax({
      type: “POST”,
      url: “ajaxlogin.php?type=abc”,
      data: dataString,
      cache: false,
      success: function(result){ alert(result);
      }
      });

      Reply
    20. John on

      Hi Rahul,

      Its working well with url but when I try to submit the form, I loose all the values. I cannot submit the form.
      What is the reason?

      Reply
      • Rahul K. on

        Hi Gili,

        The updated tutorial will help you more to achieve your tasks. For the single file, I hope below .htaccess rules should work for you.

        RewriteEngine on
        RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} /contact-us.php [NC]
        RewriteRule ^ /contact-us [NC,L,R]

        RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
        RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.php [NC,L]

        Reply
    23. krishna on

      thank you for this code
      but what to do if i want to remove .html extensionform URL like this “/WordPress/oepl/projecttask?p=project_detail.html&p_id=94836894-0813-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx”

      Reply
    24. Ali Hammad on

      I write this code but I still have a problem. When I manually type websitename/pagename.php it will not remove the extension (.php) please help to resolve this.

      RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
      RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}\.php -f
      RewriteRule ^([^/.]+)$ $1.php [L]

      Reply
    25. Anto Navis on

      Hi, Shall i know, its work on local host xampp server, i try it on local but not getting it, can you help to give the solution for it

      Reply

    Leave A Reply