Apache .htaccess Guide & Tutorial >>
Error documents
Creating custom error pages is very useful, it allows you to show web site visitors a friendly error message, for instance if a URL on your web site does not work. This avoids the unfriendly '404 File Not Found' error and allows you to display a friendly error, explaining possible solutions and guiding the visitor back into your web site content, rather than leaving them frustrated and lost.
To set-up custom error documents, create a .htaccess file following the main instructions and guidance which includes the following text:
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The above line tells the Apache Web Server to display the document located at /error_pages/404.html (under your domain name/web site address) whenever a 404 (file not found) error occurs.
In this example, we have assumed you have created the error document and called it '404.html' and that you have placed it in a directory called 'error_pages' under your domain name. For example, http://www.yourdomain.com/error_pages/404.html
The document 404.html is a normal HTML document like the others in your web site and can display whatever content you wish, however we recommend including a 'File Not Found' message.
To setup further error documents, for example for '401 Unauthorised', '403 Forbidden', and '500 Internal Server' error messages, create a .htaccess file following the main instructions and guidance which includes the following text:
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It's all very well displaying a friendly error message, but more importantly you need to resolve the error. By using a CGI script instead of a static HTML document as the error document allows us to record errors in a database, and resolve them.
This can be achieved very easily thanks to a variety of pre-made solutions which can even show us which errors are received most frequently. Such products can be found on The CGI Resource Index and HotScripts.com.
Updated: 31st October 2007
Comments
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Jay "Fantastic reading! Very simple, easy and effective. I was an utter noob before reading this and now I'm using .htaccess files on my site like a pro." |
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Moderator "DC, yes of course, simply place another .htaccess file in the subdomain directory and this will cancel the previous rules. I believe you can simply use a blank .htaccess file, or alternatively setup a new set of error pages." |
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DC "Within my domain, I have a folder for a subdomain. Is there a way to exclude this subdomain from using the main domain htaccess file? Basically, I want to use custom error pages for my main/top domain, but the subdomain includes an applet which will not work with custom error pages." |
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Moderator "Yes, of course..." |
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Anonymous "Is it possible to tell all ErrorDocuments to point to the same page?" |
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Moderator "I don't think wildcards can be used, you will need to specify each error code individually. To auto-redirect after the user sees the error message, simply setup an error page with a meta refresh tag to redirect the user after X seconds. Error document files must be listed with a relative URL, you cannot use a full URL." |
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thanks "are wildcards possible? to account for all 4xx or 5xx errors? auto redirect after a delay? ok to use a full url? (as i am making a .htaccess for a subfolder of a site user's site folder, so not sure about the proper relate path seen by apache) what font is your logo in i love it :)" |
