Problem detecting empty REQUEST_URI with Apache mod_rewrite <p>I am running Apache witha redirect rule like this:</p> <pre><code>RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^1st-domain\.com RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://2nd-domain.com$1 [R=permanent,L] </code></pre> <p>This successfully redirects <a href="http://1st-domain.com" rel="nofollow">http://1st-domain.com</a> to <a href="http://2nd-domain.com" rel="nofollow">http://2nd-domain.com</a> However, when the REQUEST_URI is empty, I want to redirect to a third domain.</p> <pre><code>RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^1st-domain\.com$ RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^$ RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://3rd-domain.com$1 [R=permanent,L] </code></pre> <p>But this does not work and instead redirects to 2nd-domain.com</p> <p>My rules are ordered like this:</p> <pre><code>RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^1st-domain\.com$ RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^$ RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://3rd-domain.com$1 [R=permanent,L] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^1st-domain\.com RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://2nd-domain.com$1 [R=permanent,L] </code></pre> <p>Any suggestions? Thank you in advance.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE</strong></p> <ol> <li>Empty REQUEST_URI: http:/1st-domain.com</li> <li>Non-empty REQUEST_URI: <a href="http://1st-domain.com/something" rel="nofollow">http://1st-domain.com/something</a></li> </ol> <p>The first rule should direct an empty request_uri to 3rd-domain.com, the second rule should direct the non-empty request_uri to 2nd-domain.com</p> <p><strong>USEFUL TIDBIT</strong> You can turn on mod_rewrite debug with this snippet:</p> <pre><code>&lt;IfModule mod_rewrite.c&gt; RewriteLog "/home/domain.com/logs/rewrite.log" RewriteLogLevel 3 &lt;/IfModule&gt; </code></pre> <p>Very useful debug option I hadn't known.</p>