Redirect non-www to www in .htaccess

Question

I have this in my .htaccess file:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com$1 [R=301,L]

but whenever I access a file on my root like http://example.com/robots.txt it will redirect to http://www.example.comrobots.txt/.

How can I correct this so that it will redirect correctly to http://www.example.com/robots.txt?

score 407 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 19 '17 at 03:55

407

Change your configuration to this (add a slash):

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Or the solution outlined below (proposed by @absiddiqueLive) will work for any domain:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

If you need to support http and https and preserve the protocol choice try the following:

RewriteRule ^login\$ https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/login [R=301,L]

Where you replace login with checkout.php or whatever URL you need to support HTTPS on.

I'd argue this is a bad idea though. For the reasoning please read this answer.

edited Nov 19 '17 at 03:55

absiddiqueLive

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answered Aug 21 '12 at 08:09

Randall Hunt

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This solution doesn't work when some pages (like login or sign up) use https protocol. – Alexey Kosov Nov 27 '14 at 07:47
I've updated the post slightly to include some info. It's hard to both generically and correctly choose the protocol to use. – Randall Hunt Nov 28 '14 at 08:12
3

The first solution doesn't redirect enough, the 2nd seems to redirect too much. For example `blog.example.com` becomes `www.blog.example.com` – gman Jun 05 '15 at 10:02
Could you please also add how to avoid the redirect while developing on localhost? – Bugs Bunny Oct 25 '15 at 18:42
ive been following everything on here but nothing is working. Im using a laravel setup. Does anyone have any idea why this isnt working for me? www.domain.com and domain.com both load properly but domain.com doesnt redirect to www.domain.com. Could this be a problem with my DNS? – hello world Feb 04 '16 at 03:40
Could be? what do you have in your DNS? I typically make www a cname that points to the A record of domain.com -- also I notice typos are pretty common with these bugs. – Randall Hunt Feb 17 '16 at 22:12
Thank you .. First solution is simple and efficient – Tarun Nagpal Aug 08 '16 at 07:48
How can we set the same configuration for Spring boot applications? As we don't have any .htaccess file in it? – Akash Goswami Mar 16 '18 at 19:14
Why not use the [QSA flag](https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/rewrite/flags.html#flag_qsa)? – Yatko Aug 30 '19 at 08:58

Alexey Kosov · Answer 2 · 2021-02-04T16:09:00.140

101

Here's the correct solution which supports https and http:

# Redirect to www
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^[^.]+\.[^.]+$
RewriteCond %{HTTPS}s ^on(s)|
RewriteRule ^ http%1://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

UPD.: for domains like .co.uk, replace

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^[^.]+\.[^.]+$

with

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^[^.]+\.[^.]+\.[^.]+$

edited Feb 04 '21 at 16:09

answered Nov 28 '14 at 08:21

Alexey Kosov

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This is perfect, it also doesn't redirect subdomains to `www` like the other generic solutions do. – Fabian Schmengler Apr 07 '15 at 09:10
4

This is a best solution, works much better than the accepted answer, and takes care of HTTPS properly – Tamik Soziev Jun 09 '15 at 08:51
3

Works perfectly! And in such few lines! – zeckdude Nov 29 '15 at 03:19
8

THIS IS THE BEST ANSWER – Andrew Dec 13 '15 at 21:57
10

If I am not mistaken, this wouldn't work for more than one dot. Examples: `yoursite.co.uk` – TrashyMcTrash Jan 12 '16 at 14:02
1

Doesn't work for me. When I type domain.de it takes me to `https://domain.de`. But I want `https://www.domain.de` – molerat Sep 08 '16 at 18:33
@TrashyMcTrash, this is by design, I don't think it makes sense to prepend a 3rd level domain with "www". Usually it's used only for 2nd level ones. – Alexey Kosov Mar 16 '17 at 08:26
@AlexeyKosov There are TLDs, where you can't set up a 2nd level domain, for example .au, .uk, .jp. I know it is easy to change the snippet accordingly, just noting this for people who will use it for one of those TLDs. – Láďa Durchánek Apr 05 '17 at 23:58
@AlexeyKosov This doesn't make sense to you? `www.domain.co.uk` – reformed Feb 04 '21 at 15:18
@reformed It does. I meant subdomains like static.domain.com. Those domains (.au, .uk, .jp) are exception. – Alexey Kosov Feb 04 '21 at 16:03
I like this because it helps redirect `.co.ke` – Omari Victor Omosa Apr 26 '21 at 07:19

absiddiqueLive · Answer 3 · 2015-11-24T07:29:30.097

85

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

For Https

RewriteCond %{HTTPS}s ^on(s)|

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http%1://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

edited Nov 24 '15 at 07:29

answered Mar 10 '14 at 12:08

absiddiqueLive

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This solution is preferred to @ranman's as it will work for all domains thus minimizing human error either when you're implementing code for a new project or when you implement extra-domains to an existing project. – Frankie Aug 20 '14 at 15:16
I prefer this solution, but why `^(.*)$` instead of `(.*)`? – Popnoodles Sep 08 '14 at 17:03
this solution is better but i have edited mine to contain yours as well. – Randall Hunt Nov 04 '14 at 00:59
1

This is working for all domain its simple and effective! Thank you – Suresh Karia Mar 25 '15 at 06:41
you may follow RewriteCond %{HTTPS}s ^on(s)| RewriteRule ^ http%1://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L] – absiddiqueLive Sep 20 '15 at 05:59

Amit Verma · Answer 4 · 2016-04-23T07:48:02.080

24

The following example works on both ssl and non-ssl and is much faster as you use just one rule to manage http and https

RewriteEngine on


RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteCond %{HTTPS}s on(s)|offs()
RewriteRule ^ http%1://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [NE,L,R]

[Tested]

This will redirect

http

http://example.com

to

http://www.example.com

https

https://example.com

to

https://www.example.com

edited Apr 23 '16 at 07:48

answered Apr 23 '16 at 07:26

Amit Verma

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Very close to what I came up with. Supports more than one dot in the HTTP host too, for example "mysite.co.uk". – Adambean Jul 07 '16 at 11:58
2

Just out of curiosity, why aren't you using R=301 here? It will use 302 (moved temp.) by default if no code specified. – Marc Dec 04 '16 at 20:44
1

Works perfectly. This should be the accepted answer. – James Nisbet Sep 29 '18 at 22:20
it will also redirect blog.domain.com to www.blog.domain.com, which is not always desired – Alexey Kosov Feb 04 '21 at 16:14

score 8 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 22 '14 at 08:34

8

Try this, I used it in many websites, it works perfectly

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^bewebdeveloper.com$
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.bewebdeveloper.com/$1  [QSA,L,R=301]

answered Oct 22 '14 at 08:34

Ali Aboussebaba

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Mizo Games · Answer 6 · 2019-09-30T18:46:28.157

I have tested all the above solutions but not working for me, i have tried to remove the http:// and won't redirect also removed the www it redirect well, so i get confused, specially i am running all my sites under https://

So i have combined some codes together and came up with perfect solution for both http:// and https:// and www and non-www.

# HTTPS forced
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
# Redirect to www
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]
</IfModule>

Hope this can help someone :)

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 28 '15 at 11:16

3

Add the following code in .htaccess file.

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

URLs redirect tutorial can be found from here - Redirect non-www to www & HTTP to HTTPS using .htaccess file

answered Oct 28 '15 at 11:16

JoyGuru

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Abhilash Mishra · Answer 8 · 2018-02-14T08:39:09.870

3

This configuration worked for me in bitnami wordpress with SSL configured :

Added the below under "RewriteEngine On" in file /opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/conf/httpd-app.conf

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} .
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
RewriteRule ^ http%{ENV:protossl}://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !on
RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

edited Feb 14 '18 at 08:39

answered Feb 23 '17 at 00:19

Abhilash Mishra

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score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 19 '15 at 19:35

2

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.domain\.com [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.domain.com/$1 [L,R=301]

This will redirect your domain which is not started with WWW It is not redirect your all sub domain.

It is useful.

answered Jan 19 '15 at 19:35

Ashish Gondaliya

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score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 10 '15 at 09:03

I believe the top answer successfully redirects non-www to www (ex: mysite.com -> www.mysite.com), but doesn't take into account wildcard subdomains, which results in:

random.mysite.com -> www.random.mysite.com

Here's a solution with/without HTTPS

HTTP

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !www.mysite.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http%{ENV:protossl}://www.mysite.com/$1 [L,R=301]

HTTP/HTTPS

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTPS} =on
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [env=protocol:https]

RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [env=protocol:http]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !www.mysite.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ %{ENV:protocol}://www.mysite.com/$1 [L,R=301]

*note: I haven't tested https because I don't currently have a cert to test, but if someone can verify or optimize what I have that would be awesome.

What does the first $ do here: '^(.*)$' – Vaishal Patel Jun 29 '18 at 06:37 — Vaishal Patel, Jun 29 '18 at 06:37

score 1 · Answer 11 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Two warnings

Avoid 301 and prefer modern 303 or 307 response status codes.

Avoid 301

Think carefully if you really need the permanent redirect indicated as [R=301] because if you decide to change it later, then the previous visitors of the page will continue to see the page of the original redirection.

The permanent redirection information is frequently stored in the browser's cache and, in general, it is difficult to eliminate (reload the page do not solve the problem). Your website visitors will be stuck in the previous redirect "forever".

Avoid 302 too

The new version of the HTTP protocol (v1.1) added two new response status codes that can be used instead of 302.

303 URL redirection but demanding to change the type of request to GET.
307 URL Redirection but demanding to keep the type of request as initially sent.

You can still use the code 302 (non-permanent redirection) although it is considered ambiguous. In any case, most browsers implement 302 in the same way the new 303 code instructs.

regarding your warning about 301, this will apply even if we are talking about the same domain name? not so sure how this will apply in this case ... redirecting all URL's from `http://example.com/testing` to `http://www.example.com/testing`. Could be a bad approach in long term? Thanks, — typo_, Jul 23 '18 at 16:41

Buttle Butkus · Answer 12 · 2017-03-21T04:56:07.373

If possible, add this to the main Apache configuration file. It is a lighter-weight solution, less processing required.

<VirtualHost 64.65.66.67>
        ServerName example.com
        Redirect permanent / http://www.example.com/
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost 64.65.66.67>
   ServerAdmin me@example.com
   ServerName www.example.com
   DocumentRoot /var/www/example
   .
   .
   . etc

So, the separate VirtualHost for "example.com" captures those requests and then permanently redirects them to your main VirtualHost. So there's no REGEX parsing with every request, and your client browsers will cache the redirect so they'll never (or rarely) request the "wrong" url again, saving you on server load.

Note, the trailing slash in Redirect permanent / http://www.example.com/. Without it, a redirect from example.com/asdf would redirect to http://www.example.comasdf instead of http://www.example.com/asdf.

score -2 · Answer 13 · answered Jul 03 '14 at 01:55

-2

Write in .htaccess :)

## Redirect from non-www to www (remove the two lines below to enable)
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

answered Jul 03 '14 at 01:55

Piseth Sok

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Same as other answers – Ankit Jun 02 '17 at 09:29

Redirect non-www to www in .htaccess

13 Answers13

Two warnings

Avoid 301

Avoid 302 too

Linked

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