What is .htaccess?

Using .htaccess files lets you control the behavior of your Website or a specific directory on your Website. For example, if you place an .htaccess file in your root directory, it will affect your entire Website (www.coolexample.com). If you place it in a /content directory, it will only affect that directory (www.coolexample.com/content).

.htaccess works on our Linux servers.

Using an .htaccess file, you can:

• Customize the Error pages for your Website.
• Protect your Website with a password.
• Enable server-side includes.
• Deny access to your Website based on IP.
• Change your default directory page (index.html).
• Redirect visitors to another page.
• Prevent directory listing.
• Add MIME types.

.htaccess files are a simple ASCII text file with the name .htaccess. It is not an extension like .html or .txt. The entire file name is .htaccess. For more information on how to set up .htaccess files, visit Apache's website.

Make sure you create an .htaccess file using a plain text editor that doesn't use word wrap. Some editors (such as MS Word or Notepad with Word Wrap enabled) will insert special ASCII codes to signify a line break. Your .htaccess file will not work if it has these special characters in it.