How to set default page, but keep URL extension?

How to set default page, but keep URL extension? - .htaccess files are extremely useful in many cases for users who either do not have root permissions or for users who simply aren't comfortable in making changes in their web server's configuration file. Trying to debug .htaccess not working isn't always the easiest thing to do, however, hopefully by checking the discuss below mentioned about htaccess, , , , .htaccess common problems as well as the troubleshooting tips, you'll have a better grasp on what you may have to modify to get your .htaccess file running smoothly.Problem :

I am trying to set mydomain/forum to be the default URL that people are brought to when they go to mydomain. I have this working, as in my .htaccess I wrote DirectoryIndex index.php?route=/forum/ (this is the less simplified version of /forum, both work. just putting "forum" didn't work so I replaced it with this). The problem is that it doesn't redirect them to /forum, it just keeps them on /. It shows the right page, but doesn't have /forum in the URL.

How can I fix this?

Solution :

I don't normally like to redirect away from the root but if that is your goal try this.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^$ /forum [L]

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This Question on StackOverflow should get you what you need.

Additionally, if you would like to do some further testing, give the htaccess tester tool a try. It allows you to specify a certain URL as well as the rules you would like to include and then shows which rules were tested, which ones met the criteria, and which ones were executed.