Force www. in your URL using .htaccess

Posted on March 15th, 2007 in .htaccess, code tidbits

Insert this into the top of your .htaccess file, making sure that ‘RewriteEngine On’ comes before it:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.jhuskisson\.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.jhuskisson.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Replace jhuskisson.com with your chosen domain and make sure if you are placing any full stops within the first line to enter a backslash before each full stop. This will prevent the code from not working.

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There are 9 responses to this post so far

• 
  Ryan Christensen wrote:

  I tend to prefer the reverse (something about the URL length, I think.) Either way, great tip!

  Is there a reason you prefer having the “www” over the alternative?

  # March 15th, 2007 at 8:17pm

• 
  Jamie Huskisson wrote:

  Think I’ve seen it for so long it just feels un-natural without it Ryan ;)

  # March 15th, 2007 at 8:19pm

• 
  Maciej Pawłowski wrote:

  But it’s quite bad idea … Instead try:
  RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

  no-www.org

  # March 19th, 2007 at 1:55am

• 
  Jamie Huskisson wrote:

  So instead of adding the www. your code removes it Maciej?

  Thanks for contributing that – I’m sure people here will be looking for both alternatives :)

  # March 19th, 2007 at 6:34pm

• 
  Daniel wrote:

  I’ve tried both, but the solution has caused other problems. I’ve installed bbpress, but the users that log into Skinplistic WITHOUT the www are not recognized by users that log into bbpress WITH the www. I used the code above to force access via www, however; I noticed this counted multiple hit against my server (I use slimstat). Plus, I think it may be upsetting adsense and the other robots I prey for everyday. ;) I don’t know what to do.

  # March 25th, 2007 at 7:05pm

• 
  kyle renfrow wrote:

  this solution provided is only for http, make sure you cover https as well..heres the code I’ve been using for quite some time:

  RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^overfrown\.com
  RewriteCond %{HTTPS} =on
  RewriteRule .* https://www.%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [R,L]
  RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^overfrown\.com
  RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
  RewriteRule .* http://www.%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [R,L]

  # April 24th, 2008 at 7:21pm

• 
  Camaron wrote:

  #kyle renfrow

  thank you, the other redirect chops the path before the script name off (in my case at least)

  # April 3rd, 2009 at 3:34pm

• 
  Jim wrote:

  Thanks Jamie and Maciej for the simple documentation. I’ve referred to it several times myself.

  # November 29th, 2009 at 6:03am

• 
  Ernie wrote:

  Thanks for this, I’ll get it up on my site now :)

  # March 5th, 2010 at 9:45am

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