is there a PHP function to simulate how apache mod_rewrite works?

I'm pretty stuck in here, so what I need is a function or, an idea to create a function, to work pretty the same way as mod_rewrite of Apache. It is supposed to have as param a regexp, writtten for mod_rewrite, and the url. Should return an array of parameters extracted from it.

Here's a short example of how it should work:

    function rewrite($regexp, $url){ 
           ....
    }

    $params = rewrite('([^/]+)-([^/]+).html', 'Oval-Shape.html');

    print_r($params);

The code above should print:

   ar开发者_JS百科ray(1=>Oval, 2=>Shape)

---

Yes, RewriteRule uses a perl compatible regular expression. That's the same PHP does in preg_match().

A difference is, that in ModRewrite you can prefix it with a ! to not match something.

Another thing is, when you add the NC flag, they are case in-sensitive. In a PHP regex this can be achieved by using the i modifier.

So before you start re-invent the wheel, why not choose that function? It works like this:

$url = 'Oval-Shape.html';
$regexp = '([^/]+)-([^/]+).html';
$result = preg_match("({$regexp})i", $url, $params);
print_r($params);

And this is the output:

Array
(
    [0] => Oval-Shape.html
    [1] => Oval
    [2] => Shape
)

So $params[1] is what you know as $1 in .htacces and so on.

---

This behaviour can be easily replaced with PHP and allows more flexible and complex rules, for example based on database records.

Put this in your .htaccess:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php [L]

This way, every request is forwarded to index.php. You can then get and parse the $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] variable and forward the page execution wherever you want to.

This is what every current MVC framework does. It's called routing.

---

You will not be able to fully simulate Apache's mod_rewrite because Apache will rewrite the Url before dispatching the request, whereas when PHP is ivoked, the request has already been dispatched. For example, if you request

/index.php?page=mypage

with an .htaccess like

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -s [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?page=$1 [NC,L]

You could also request the same Url with

/mypage

Which would result in index.php be called with $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] = '/mypage' and $_GET['page'] = 'mypage'.This behavior cannot be replicated by PHP because Apache will not find mypage and will issue an error 404.