Apache .htaccess File Help For Non Techies

What exactly you can do with the file is determined by the server administrator, and so just because it is possible to use the .htaccess file to configure, say password protection, it doesn't mean that you will be able to do it on your hosting package.

Name and structure and Flow

The file itself is a simple text file edited using a text editor like notepad (not word) with a single directive (instruction) per line.

There can be multiple .htaccess files on a website but only one per directory. Instructions in a .htaccess file in a parent directory will affect the sub directory unless specifically blocked or overwritten by a .htaccess file in the sub directory.

That is to say child directories automatically inherits the .htaccess file directives from the parent directory as the sketch below attempts to show.

Editing the .htaccess file

Editing the file isn’t difficult, however you should be careful when using/editing this file as incorrect editing can cause sever errors. After any changes you should always take a look at your site in a browser to make sure it loads ok.

In order to help then you may want to use a .htaccess editing tool. There are a number of online ones like http://www.htaccesseditor.com and there is htaccessible which is a windows based program.

The online tools and the htaccessible programs generate redirects using the redirect command. However use of mod rewrite is more common and trying to use the redirect command in an .htaccess file on a server with module rewrite enabled usually causes a server error. See Web Page Redirects

If your main concern is password protecting your website then you may want to look at the htpassword generator. The Password protect web pages article has more information on how to protect pages.