Apache mod_rewrite, "[0-9]" VS "\d"

[joebert]

October 24th, 2009, 5:13 pm

I've traced a malfunctioning RewriteRule going from one server to another server, back to the use of "\d" in a RewriteRule vs using "[0-9]" in the RewriteRule.

Anyone familiar with which version of Apache, mod_rewrite, OS, etc the use of "\d" began being available in RewriteRule ?

[Bigwebmaster]

October 29th, 2009, 10:56 am

I don't think \d is valid for any mod_rewrite rules. That works fine for regexes with PHP and PERL, but Apache mod_rewrite is much more limited and I always write \d as 0-9 and \w as a-zA-Z(and any other characters wanted here such as _).

[joebert]

October 29th, 2009, 11:16 am

It works on my box here at home. Actually I just looked and it works on an Ozzu hosting server too.

PHP Code: [ Download ] [ Select ]

<?php
echo $_GET['a'];
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $_GET['a'];
3. ?>

APACHE Code: [ Download ] [ Select ]

RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /temp/
 
RewriteRule ^(\d)\.html$ index.php?a=$1 [L]
 

1. RewriteEngine on
2. RewriteBase /temp/
3.  
4. RewriteRule ^(\d)\.html$ index.php?a=$1 [L]
5.  

The only major differences I can tell between the Ozzu server, my home server, and the old server, is that the old server is running a 1.3.x version of Apache whereas the others are on some branch of 2.x.x

I'm thinking one of the 2.x.x branches of Apaches mod_rewrite introduced better support for PCRE. All I can find at apache.org is a note about it using PCRE, but it doesn't go into detail about "how" supported it is and I'm not finding anything about when it started.

[Bigwebmaster]

October 29th, 2009, 11:20 am

Ahh that may be the case. I never did look into seeing if they improved support with the 2.x.x branch. That is good to know though.

[joebert]

October 29th, 2009, 11:24 am

Alright I found a changelog with something good.

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/new_features_2_0.html

Quote:

Regular Expression Library Updated
Apache 2.0 includes the Perl Compatible Regular Expression Library (PCRE). All regular expression evaluation now uses the more powerful Perl 5 syntax.