title: Apache Mod Rewrite for Pretty URLs isn't working
body: <p>I'm trying to figure out how to do an apache <code>mod_rewrite</code> to remap <code>$_GET</code>.</p>
  
  <p><strong>What I'm trying to accomplish:</strong></p>
  
  <p>Currently, to get to the page one would have to go to </p>
  
  <p><code>http://www.domain.com/index.php?URL=pages/the-page.php</code></p>
  
  <p><strong>I would like this to work in 2 ways:</strong></p>
  
  <p>If someone goes to <code>domain.com/the-page</code>, it takes them to the above but keeps it looking like this. Secondly, if someone goes to the <code>http://www.domain.com/index.php?URL=pages/the-page.php</code>, it will still show as <code>domain.com/the-page</code>, keeping the URL short and clean.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Most Recently Tried Code</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>Options +FollowSymlinks
  RewriteEngine on
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/index\.php$
  RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} URL=pages/([a-z0-9-_]+)\.php$
  RewriteRule ^(.*) /%1
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm pretty sure I setup everything right in the apache <code>httpd.conf</code>. I'm using XAMPP to test locally, restarted apache on changes, still nothing. Where am I going wrong?</p>
  
  <p><em><strong>I would prefer to handle this in .htaccess</em></strong></p>
  
  <p>I am using XAMPP localhost and trying on live server.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Log File:</strong></p>
  
  <p><code>
  127.0.0.1 - - [05/Apr/2013:16:50:43 --0400] [localhost/sid#2f3140][rid#3b14068/initial] (3) [perdir C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/] strip per-dir prefix: C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/index.php -&gt; index.php</code></p>
  
  <p><code>127.0.0.1 - - [05/Apr/2013:16:50:43 --0400] [localhost/sid#2f3140][rid#3b14068/initial] (3) [perdir C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/] applying pattern '^(.*)' to uri 'index.php'</code></p>
  
  <p><code>127.0.0.1 - - [05/Apr/2013:16:50:43 --0400] [localhost/sid#2f3140][rid#3b14068/initial] (1) [perdir C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/] pass through C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/index.php</code></p>
  
  <p><strong>Updated log with Olaf's script <em>(last rule commented out)</em></strong></p>
  
  <p><code>127.0.0.1 - - [05/Apr/2013:20:02:24 --0400] [localhost/sid#2e3140][rid#3b14090/initial] (3) [perdir C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/] strip per-dir prefix: C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/index.php -&gt; index.php</code></p>
  
  <p><code>127.0.0.1 - - [05/Apr/2013:20:02:24 --0400] [localhost/sid#2e3140][rid#3b14090/initial] (3) [perdir C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/] applying pattern '^' to uri 'index.php'</code></p>
  
  <p><code>127.0.0.1 - - [05/Apr/2013:20:02:24 --0400] [localhost/sid#2e3140][rid#3b14090/initial] (3) [perdir C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/] strip per-dir prefix: C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/index.php -&gt; index.php</code></p>
  
  <p><code>127.0.0.1 - - [05/Apr/2013:20:02:24 --0400] [localhost/sid#2e3140][rid#3b14090/initial] (3) [perdir C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/] applying pattern '^index\.php$' to uri 'index.php'</code></p>
  
  <p><code>127.0.0.1 - - [05/Apr/2013:20:02:24 --0400] [localhost/sid#2e3140][rid#3b14090/initial] (2) [perdir C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/] rewrite 'index.php' -&gt; '/newhome?'</code></p>
  
  <p><code>127.0.0.1 - - [05/Apr/2013:20:02:24 --0400] [localhost/sid#2e3140][rid#3b14090/initial] (3) split uri=/newhome? -&gt; uri=/newhome, args=&lt;none&gt;</code></p>
  
  <p><code>127.0.0.1 - - [05/Apr/2013:20:02:24 --0400] [localhost/sid#2e3140][rid#3b14090/initial] (2) [perdir C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/] explicitly forcing redirect with http://localhost/newhome</code> <strong><em>&lt;--this one seems to be causing the issue</em></strong></p>
  
  <p><code>127.0.0.1 - - [05/Apr/2013:20:02:24 --0400] [localhost/sid#2e3140][rid#3b14090/initial] (1) [perdir C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/] escaping http://localhost/newhome for redirect</code></p>
  
  <p><code>127.0.0.1 - - [05/Apr/2013:20:02:24 --0400] [localhost/sid#2e3140][rid#3b14090/initial] (1) [perdir C:/xampp/htdocs/cdi/] redirect to http://localhost/newhome [REDIRECT/302]</code></p>
  
  <p>Thank you everyone that is helping. I've spent 2 days trying to get this to work!!!</p>