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Typewar avatar Server

rewrite and force redirect on rewrite origin url in nginx

in flag
Typewar

I have this instance where a html search <form> forces it to go to /search/index.php?q=term and would like to use something like /search/term instead.

This is how the config looks like right now:

location /search/ {
    rewrite ^/search/(.+) /search/index.php?q=$1;
}

Accessing this location directly works, but in the moment of filling out the form, and searching it will use the "origin" rather than the rewrite.

I tried using redirect "backwards", but that crashed the nginx service:

location /search/ {
    rewrite ^/search/(.+) /search/index.php?q=$1;
    redirect ^/search/index.php?q=(.+) /search/$1;
}

I also tried rewrite with permanent flag, which didn't do anything

location /search/ {
    rewrite ^/search/(.+) /search/index.php?q=$1;
    rewrite ^/search/index.php?q=(.+) /search/$1 permanent;
}

I know it's possible to achieve the same thing in PHP with something like this:

// On the top of /search/index.php
if (str_starts_with($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], '/search/index.php')){
    $protocol = ($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'] == "https") ? "https" : "http";
    $server = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
    $queries = array();
    parse_str($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'], $queries);
    $search = $queries['q'] ?? "";
    header("Location: $protocol://$server/search/$search");
}

But think it would be better if nginx could handle this (if it's possible at all).

Does anyone know how to rewrite, and redirect access from the origin ?

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Richard Smith avatar
jp flag
Richard Smith
Don't know what the command `redirect` is. But can you show the access log entry for the request that fails?
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Typewar avatar
in flag
Typewar
@RichardSmith Ok I see, I got that wrong to begin with. I got it from here https://ubiq.co/tech-blog/rewrite-vs-redirect-nginx/ . Nginx systemd log does indeed say it's an unknown directive
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Richard Smith avatar
jp flag
Richard Smith
What do you mean by "origin"? Are you saying that the form sends a request to `/search/index.php?...`, and you would like the browser address bar to be changed to `/search/...`?
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Typewar avatar
in flag
Typewar
Yes, or more specifically: `/search/index.php?q=[term]`, and have it redirected to `/search/[term]`
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Score:1
Richard Smith avatar Server
jp flag
Richard Smith

The existing configuration is something like:

location /search/ {
    rewrite ^/search/(.+) /search/index.php?q=$1;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
    ...
}

The URI /search/index.php is used internally, so attempting to use rewrite ^/search/index.php?q=(.+) /search/$1 permanent; will generate a redirection loop.

To identify the URI as an external request, you need to look at the $request_uri variable. And for that, you will need to use the infamous if statement. For example:

if ($request_uri ~ ^/search/index\.php\?q=(.+)) {
    return 301 /search/$1;
}
location /search/ {
    rewrite ^/search/(.+) /search/index.php?q=$1;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
    ...
}
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Typewar avatar
in flag
Typewar
Ok, I see. I tried putting the if statement inside the scope of `/search/`, but that didn't work. Outside of the scope does work. Thank you so much!
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Richard Smith avatar
jp flag
Richard Smith
Indeed, the `/search/index.php` URI is handled by the `location ~ \.php$` block, as it ends in `.php`.
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Typewar avatar
in flag
Typewar
Ahh! that makes sense, thank you for clarifying
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us flag
Tero Kilkanen
One can also use `if ($arg_q ~ (.+))` as the `if` condition. It matches only when query argument `q` is non-empty. Using `$request_uri` is not needed.
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