# Rewrite don't work in a multilanguage MVC site **URL:** \ **Category:** NGINX\ **Created:** [October 25, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rewrite-dont-work-in-a-multilanguage-mvc-site/213175 "2011-10-25T18:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![luislavena](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/0ea827/32.png) [@luislavena](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/luislavena)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rewrite-dont-work-in-a-multilanguage-mvc-site/213175/1 "2011-10-25T18:57:03Z")
Hi!Im trying to move from Apache to nginx (v1.1.6), but you know, rewrite newbie here… In my site when a user types [http://site.com](http://site.com) he’s redirected to [http://site.com/en/](http://site.com/en/), and all the other URLs are internally handled by an index.php. This is my actual Apache htaccess: RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Language} ^en [NC] RewriteRule ^$ /en/ [L,R=301] RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Language} ^es [NC] RewriteRule ^$ /es/ [L,R=301] RewriteCond %{REQUEST\_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST\_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule (._) index.php?ctr=$1 [QSA,L] And this my translation to nginx: location / { if (-f $request\_filename) { expires 30d; break; } if ($http\_accept\_language ~_ “^es”) { rewrite ^/$ /es/ permanent; break; } if ($http\_accept\_language ~\* “^en”) { rewrite ^/$ /en/ permanent; break; } if (!-e $request\_filename) { rewrite (.\*) /index.php?ctr=$1 last; } } location ~ .php$ { fastcgi\_param SCRIPT\_FILENAME $document\_root$fastcgi\_script\_name; … With this, when I type [http://site.com](http://site.com) I’m being redirected to [http://site.com/en/](http://site.com/en/), great, but I get a 404 error, and in the error.log I have this line: “/bla/bla/html/en/index.php” is not found So, why is not nginx looking for the URI /index.php?ctr=/en/? ---
**Author:** ![SSFernando\_GarcS\_a\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@SSFernando\_GarcS\_a\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/SSFernando_GarcS_a_S)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rewrite-dont-work-in-a-multilanguage-mvc-site/213175/2 "2011-10-25T19:16:14Z")
On 25 Out 2011 17h56 WEST, [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > [1 \] > [1.1 \] > > Hi!Im trying to move from Apache to nginx (v1.1.6), but you know, > rewrite newbie here… In my site when a user types [http://site.com](http://site.com) > he’s redirected to [Login | HSTS Redirection Community](http://site.com/en/), and all the other URLs are > internally handled by an index.php. This is my actual Apache Try this: At the http level. map $http\_accept\_language $is\_english { default 0; ~^en 1; } map $http\_accept\_language $is\_spanish { default 0; ~^es 1; } location / { expires 30d; if ($is\_english) { return 301 /en; } if ($is\_spanish) { return 301 /es; } location /es {} location /en {} try\_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?ctr=$uri; } location ~.php$ { # PHP stuff } — appa ---
**Author:** ![SSFernando\_GarcS\_a\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@SSFernando\_GarcS\_a\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/SSFernando_GarcS_a_S)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rewrite-dont-work-in-a-multilanguage-mvc-site/213175/3 "2011-10-25T20:18:41Z")
Tried, and same results, redirect OK but 404 response. Thanks!! ---
**Author:** ![SSFernando\_GarcS\_a\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@SSFernando\_GarcS\_a\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/SSFernando_GarcS_a_S)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rewrite-dont-work-in-a-multilanguage-mvc-site/213175/4 "2011-10-25T21:01:24Z")
> Show your complete config. > > — appa Here we go. Those includes are the standard locations por PHP-FPM and static content: map $http\_accept\_language $is\_english { default 0; ~^en 1;} map $http\_accept\_language $is\_spanish { default 0; ~^es 1;} server { listen 80; server\_name localhost; root blah/blah; location / { auth\_basic “Restricted”; auth\_basic\_user\_file htpasswd; index index.php index.html; expires 30d; if ($is\_english) { return 301 /en; } if ($is\_spanish) { return 301 /es; } location /es {} location /en {} try\_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?ctr=$uri; } include /usr/local/nginx/conf/staticfiles.conf; include /usr/local/nginx/conf/php.conf; include /usr/local/nginx/conf/drop.conf;} ---
**Author:** ![SSFernando\_GarcS\_a\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@SSFernando\_GarcS\_a\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/SSFernando_GarcS_a_S)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rewrite-dont-work-in-a-multilanguage-mvc-site/213175/5 "2011-10-25T20:34:08Z")
On 25 Out 2011 19h17 WEST, [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Tried, and same results, redirect OK but 404 response. > Thanks!! Show your complete config. — appa ---
**Author:** ![SSFernando\_GarcS\_a\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@SSFernando\_GarcS\_a\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/SSFernando_GarcS_a_S)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/rewrite-dont-work-in-a-multilanguage-mvc-site/213175/6 "2011-10-25T22:23:44Z")
On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 06:56:05PM +0200, Fernando Garca Torres wrote: Hi there, > ``` > RewriteEngine On > RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Language} ^en [NC] RewriteRule ^$ /en/ > > ``` [L,R=301] > ``` > RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Language} ^es [NC] RewriteRule ^$ /es/ > > ``` [L,R=301] > ``` > RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d > > ``` RewriteRule (.\*) index.php?ctr=$1 [QSA,L] If I read this right, it only redirects the request for “/” to “/en/” or “/es/” if the Accept-Language header begins with one of those strings; otherwise, if the file-or-directory exists, serve it; otherwise, redirect to index.php?ctr=(the original request). Note that nginx and apache differ in the leading / of the url, so you’ll want to make sure that you allow for that. I’m going to assume that you want to redirect to /index.php for all otherwise-404s. Also note that you’ll want to check whether apache writes index.php?ctr=request or index.php?ctr=/request. The check what you configure nginx to write, and see if it works too. And as a final note – checking the first two characters of Accept-Language is not the right way to process that header. But it’s your site, and you get to do what you want on it. > And this my translation to nginx: > location / { if (-f $request\_filename) { > expires 30d; break; } > if ($http\_accept\_language ~\* “^es”) { rewrite ^/$ > /es/ permanent; break; } > if ($http\_accept\_language ~\* “^en”) { rewrite ^/$ > /en/ permanent; break; } > if (!-e $request\_filename) { rewrite (.\*) > /index.php?ctr=$1 last; } } I suggest writing this as two locations: ``` location = / { if ($http_accept_language ~* "^en") { return 301 /en/; } if ($http_accept_language ~* "^es") { return 301 /es/; } } location / { try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?ctr=$uri; } ``` > location ~ .php$ { fastcgi\_param SCRIPT\_FILENAME > $document\_root$fastcgi\_script\_name; … I would be more explicit, unless you have more php scripts: ``` location = /index.php { fastcgi_pass unix:php.sock; } ``` with ``` include fastcgi.conf; ``` at server level. But however you want to handle php is probably fine. > With this, when I type [http://site.com](http://site.com) I’m being redirected to > [Login | HSTS Redirection Community](http://site.com/en/), great, but I get a 404 error, and in the error.log I have > this line: > “/bla/bla/html/en/index.php” is not found I get a 403 Forbidden, not a 404, so I must have some other configuration difference from you. > So, why is not nginx looking for the URI /index.php?ctr=/en/? > Per the config, if the directory exists, it is served. In my tests /en/ exists and returns 403, /ex/ doesn’t and returns the same content as /index.php?ctr=/ex/ does, apart from REQUEST\_URI being different. Good luck with it, ## f Francis D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)