# URI pattern baffling problem **URL:** \ **Category:** NGINX\ **Created:** [February 7, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849 "2011-02-07T15:45:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dubstep](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@dubstep](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dubstep)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/1 "2011-02-07T15:45:58Z")
Hi, I am trying to work out a regular expression. What I am looking for is to redirect any request that does not match a specific URI pattern. The exact pattern is documents/{VAR1}/pages/{VAR2}/items/{VAR3} where {VAR1} /{VAR2} /{VAR3} is a random chain of 36 characters made of A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and (hyphen). Text is not case sensitive and the position of hyphens is fixed. Would be great if I could also work trailing double-slash. So far what I have generated is: if ($request\_uri !~\* “^documents/([a-z0-9-]{36})pages/([a-z0-9-]{36})items/([a-z0-9-]{36})$” ) { rewrite ^ [http://www.google.com/](http://www.google.com/) permanent; } Regular expression is not really my cup of tea, so any hint is most welcome! Gregory ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/2 "2011-02-07T15:53:30Z")
On 2/7/2011 5:43 PM, Gregory wrote: > I am trying to work out a regular expression.What I am looking for is to > redirect any request that does not match a specific URI pattern. May be try to mention correct patterns as locations, and after that this rewrite rule? Also: > “^documents/([a-z0-9-]{36})pages/([a-z0-9-]{36})items/([a-z0-9-]{36})$” missed some slashes and capitals. “^documents/([A-z0-9-]{36})/pages/([A-z0-9-]{36})/items/([A-z0-9-]{36})$”. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/3 "2011-02-07T16:08:35Z")
Firstly you are missing slashes after each var/regex Sent from my iPod ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 9:56am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/4 "2011-02-08T09:56:33Z")
Because, as me and Splitice mentioned before, your regexp is not correct (at least I cannot see slashes between hash and pages). Fix it. ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/5 "2011-02-07T16:12:21Z")
Yes, my bad when I pasted the expression. My current rule is: ``` if ($request_uri !~* ``` “^documents/([A-Z0-9-]{36})pages/([A-Z0-9-]{36})items/([A-Z0-9-]{36})” ) { rewrite ^ [http://www.google.com/](http://www.google.com/) permanent; } But it never matches anyway. If the expression match, I should just continue, otherwise just redirect to (google) for instance. Gregory 2011/2/7 Splitice [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 10:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/6 "2011-02-08T10:43:03Z")
Ok you are right, I did also copied it wrong, anyway, this one don’t work any better anyway: if ($request\_uri !~\* “^documents/([A-Z0-9-]{36})/pages/([A-Z0-9-]{36})/items/([A-Z0-9-]{36})” ) { rewrite ^ [http://www.google.com/](http://www.google.com/) permanent; } Which does contain all slashes. The expression never match. I am trying with the following URL [http://www.domain.tld/documents/C49775E0-4C80-0001-22B1-13B052801E5C/pages/C4977880-4C80-0001-22B1-13B052801E5C/items/C4977880-4C80-0001-22B1-13B052801E5C](http://www.domain.tld/documents/C49775E0-4C80-0001-22B1-13B052801E5C/pages/C4977880-4C80-0001-22B1-13B052801E5C/items/C4977880-4C80-0001-22B1-13B052801E5C) Gregory 2011/2/8 Vitaly T. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/7 "2011-02-08T11:04:23Z")
On 8 Fev 2011 09h41 WET, [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > [http://www.domain.tld/documents/C49775E0-4C80-0001-22B1-13B052801E5C/pages/C4977880-4C80-0001-22B1-13B052801E5C/items/C4977880-4C80-0001-22B1-13B052801E5C](http://www.domain.tld/documents/C49775E0-4C80-0001-22B1-13B052801E5C/pages/C4977880-4C80-0001-22B1-13B052801E5C/items/C4977880-4C80-0001-22B1-13B052801E5C) > Try: “^/documents/(?:[A-Z0-9-]{36})/pages/(?:[A-Z0-9-]{36})/items/(?:[A-Z0-9-]{36}” It’s working for me in cl-ppcre with the URI you gave as an example. — appa ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/8 "2011-02-08T14:13:26Z")
On Tue, Feb 08, 2011 at 11:55:27AM +0100, Gregory Agerba wrote: > Thanks Antonio, now that worked. You should think not in negative way: if ($request\_uri !~\* "^/documents/(?:[A… ") { { rewrite ^ [http://www.google.com/](http://www.google.com/) permanent; } but in positive way: location ~\* "^/documents/(?:[A… " { … } location / { rewrite ^ [http://www.google.com/](http://www.google.com/) permanent; } > - Gregory > > 2011/2/8 Antnio P. P. Almeida [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > > > Try: > > “^/documents/(?:[A-Z0-9-]{36})/pages/(?:[A-Z0-9-]{36})/items/(?:[A-Z0-9-]{36}” – Igor S. > **[Igor Sysoev](http://sysoev.ru/en/)** ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/9 "2011-02-08T14:21:37Z")
Hi Igor, Yes, but my rule is only acting as a simple _Access Control List_ which expect a very special pattern to match and anything else should be discarded with an error message/page. The given pattern is not accessed directly by users, its an application that send requests to that given URI-pattern and if the pattern doesnt match (thus in my case it means it’s a valid request), then the request is processed further in Passenger. In my understanding if I am supposed to send the positive matching I should forward that somewhere and I will create a loop and this explains why I do the opposite here. Gregory 2011/2/8 Igor S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/10 "2011-02-08T14:31:02Z")
On 8 Fev 2011 13h11 WET, [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > location ~\* "^/documents/(?:[A… " { > … > } > > location / { rewrite ^ [http://www.google.com/](http://www.google.com/) permanent; } I agree. But the problem stems from the fact that most applications don’t ever consider the configuration at the server or virtual host level. Apache has the directory context (.htaccess) so people tend to make their applications depend on it as much as possible and on the server or vhost config as little as possible. Since you cannot define locations in a directory context (.htaccess) the only solution is to think backwards and hack something revolving around mod\_rewrite. It’s a deeply rooted habit. It’s not easy to make the transition to Nginx where there’s no directory context, hence things must be thought out differently from the outset. But yes we should insist on changing that habit. Thinking backwards makes Nginx config feel strange and unnatural. — appa ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/11 "2011-02-08T15:02:29Z")
On Tue, Feb 08, 2011 at 02:20:00PM +0100, Gregory Agerba wrote: > In my understanding if I am supposed to send the positive matching I should > forward that somewhere and I will create a loop and this explains why I do > the opposite here. You should enable Passenger inside location ~\* "^/documents/(?:[A… " { … } > > rewrite ^ [http://www.google.com/](http://www.google.com/) permanent; > > } > > > > – > > Igor S. > > [Igor Sysoev](http://sysoev.ru/en/) > > > > * * * > > > > nginx mailing list > > [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > > [mailman.nginx.org archive](http://nginx.org/mailman/listinfo/nginx) > * * * > > nginx mailing list > [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > [mailman.nginx.org archive](http://nginx.org/mailman/listinfo/nginx) – Igor S. > **[Igor Sysoev](http://sysoev.ru/en/)** ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/12 "2011-02-08T15:10:02Z")
Make sense. For some reasons I thought the “passenger\_enabled” parameter could only be set in the http or server scope/stanza. Just notice it can also be set in location and even in an if, now that’s cool just getting my hands-on experience with Passenger and this duo together. Thanks – Gregory 2011/2/8 Igor S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/13 "2011-02-08T15:17:35Z")
On Tue, Feb 08, 2011 at 01:24:38PM +0000, Antnio P. P. Almeida wrote: > > > > don’t ever consider the configuration at the server or virtual host > out differently from the outset. But yes we should insist on changing > that habit. Thinking backwards makes Nginx config feel strange and > unnatural. Any Apache-based application can be configured inside if it can be configured via .htaccess. The single reason why .htaccess is so popular is shared hosting. – Igor S. > **[Igor Sysoev](http://sysoev.ru/en/)** ---
**Author:** ![Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/e56c9b/32.png) [@Gregory](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Gregory)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:57am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uri-pattern-baffling-problem/202849/14 "2011-02-08T11:57:12Z")
Thanks Antonio, now that worked. - Gregory 2011/2/8 Antnio P. P. Almeida [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)