regex - Apache .htacces Rewrite Rule to Remove .php File Extensions

Question

The title explains the basics, now, here comes the problem:

I have many files that look like this:

<?php include 'mynavbar.php';   
include 'myheader.php';    
include 'myfirstline.php'; 
include 'mybuttons.php';   
include 'myadvert.php'; 
include 'myimg.php';?>

And I can't edit all the files and remove the .php. How can I not show the .php in the address bar but still be able to include the pages by using the .php ending

Answer 1

Following code should work for you in .htaccess file to hide .php extension:

Options +FollowSymlinks -MultiViews
RewriteEngine on

# to make `/path/index.php` to /path/
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GETs(.*/)index.php [NC]
RewriteRule . %1 [NE,R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GETs.+.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.+).php$ /$1 [NE,R=301,L,NC]

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

Also remember that these rules will have NO impact in your php includes eg: include 'myheader.php';

It is because those includes are processed by php itself and don't go through Apache.