The standard solution in these situations is to use the Apache Web server’s mod_rewrite module to allow for “prettier” URLs. mod_rewrite is a tool that lets you instruct the server that when the user goes to one URL, the server should provide another resource. mod_rewrite makes use of regular expressions, so the matching pattern and resulting actual URL can be as complex as needed.

These, and other changes to Apache’s behavior, can be made in two ways: by editing the primary Apache configuration file or by creating directory-specific files. The primary configuration file is httpd.conf, found within a conf directory, and it dictates how the entire Apache Web server runs (where the httpd.conf file is on your system will depend on many things). An .htaccess

file (pronounced “H-T access”) is placed within a Web directory and is used to affect how Apache behaves within just that folder and subfolders.

Generally speaking, it’s preferable to make changes in the httpd.conf file, since this file needs to be read only by the Web server each time the server is started. Conversely, .htaccess files must be read by the Web server once for every request to which an .htaccess file might apply.