> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://htaccess.gitbook.io/htaccess/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://htaccess.gitbook.io/htaccess/what-is-l-in-qsa-l-in-htaccess.md). # What is L in \[QSA, L] in htaccess ## [What is L in \[QSA, L\] in htaccess](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16468098/what-is-l-in-qsa-l-in-htaccess) Asked 9 years, 11 months agoModified [1 year, 2 months ago](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16468098/what-is-l-in-qsa-l-in-htaccess?lastactivity)Viewed 107k times85 > QSA means that if there's a query string passed with the original URL, it will be appended to the rewrite (olle?p=1 will be rewritten as index.php?url=olle\&p=1. > > L means if the rule matches, don't process any more RewriteRules below this one. Hi, what are some easy examples to explain the use of L? I can't seem to grasp this explanation above. Any help will be highly appreciated. Thanks. * [.htaccess](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/.htaccess) * [qsa](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/qsa) [Share](https://stackoverflow.com/q/16468098)[Improve this question](https://stackoverflow.com/posts/16468098/edit)Followasked May 9, 2013 at 18:00[![stackoverflower's user avatar](https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/18ca829883de84fdae9d3ee92ca25db1?s=64\&d=identicon\&r=PG)](https://stackoverflow.com/users/2284106/stackoverflower)[stackoverflower](https://stackoverflow.com/users/2284106/stackoverflower)88911 gold badge77 silver badges55 bronze badges * Check this link: [httpd.apache.org/docs/current/rewrite/flags.html#flag\_qsa](http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/rewrite/flags.html#flag_qsa) – [Jo Smo](https://stackoverflow.com/users/1286942/jo-smo) [Aug 7, 2014 at 18:06](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16468098/what-is-l-in-qsa-l-in-htaccess#comment39224097_16468098) * QSA flag in mod\_rewrite : [helponnet.com/2021/04/27/htaccess-qsa-flag](https://helponnet.com/2021/04/27/htaccess-qsa-flag/) – [Amit Verma](https://stackoverflow.com/users/3160747/amit-verma) [Jul 18, 2021 at 5:06](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16468098/what-is-l-in-qsa-l-in-htaccess#comment120929458_16468098) [Add a comment](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16468098/what-is-l-in-qsa-l-in-htaccess#) ### 3 Answers Sorted by: Highest score (default) Trending (recent votes count more) Date modified (newest first) Date created (oldest first) 124 ### .htaccess flag list * C (chained with next rule) * CO=cookie (set specified cookie) * E=var:value (set environment variable var to value) * F (forbidden - sends a 403 header to the user) * G (gone - no longer exists) * H=handler (set handler) * **L (last - stop processing rules)** > Last rule: instructs the server to stop rewriting after the preceding directive is processed. * N (next - continue processing rules) * NC (case insensitive) * NE (do not escape special URL characters in output) * NS (ignore this rule if the request is a subrequest) * P (proxy - i.e., apache should grab the remote content specified in the substitution section and return it) * PT (pass through - use when processing URLs with additional handlers, e.g., mod\_alias) * R (temporary redirect to new URL) * R=301 (permanent redirect to new URL) * QSA (append query string from request to substituted URL) * S=x (skip next x rules) * T=mime-type (force specified mime type) Flags are added to the end of a rewrite rule to tell Apache how to interpret and handle the rule. They can be used to tell apache to treat the rule as case-insensitive, to stop processing rules if the current one matches, or a variety of other options. They are comma-separated, and contained in square brackets. [Share](https://stackoverflow.com/a/39225280)[Improve this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/posts/39225280/edit)Follow[edited Aug 30, 2016 at 10:54](https://stackoverflow.com/posts/39225280/revisions)answered Aug 30, 2016 at 10:39[![Smit Patadiya's user avatar](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-h1wLrf4-6YQ/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAABiE/VD1oCMnOh6I/photo.jpg?sz=64)](https://stackoverflow.com/users/6678050/smit-patadiya)[Smit Patadiya](https://stackoverflow.com/users/6678050/smit-patadiya)1,38811 gold badge88 silver badges66 bronze badges * 2You got my +1, but for a *perfect* answer, it would be nice to provide a link to Apache's official resources, e.g. [httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod\_rewrite.html#RewriteRule](https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_rewrite.html#RewriteRule) (or wherever your reference was) – [Gwyneth Llewelyn](https://stackoverflow.com/users/1035977/gwyneth-llewelyn) [Jul 26, 2022 at 16:27](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16468098/what-is-l-in-qsa-l-in-htaccess#comment129153049_39225280) [Add a comment](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16468098/what-is-l-in-qsa-l-in-htaccess#)102 The `QSA` flag means to append an existing query string *after* the URI has been rewritten. Example: URL=`http://example.com/foo/bar?q=blah` Rule: ``` RewriteRule ^foo/(.*)$ /index.php?b=$1 ``` Result=`/index.php?b=bar` Notice how the `q=blah` is gone. Because the existing query string is dropped in favor of the one in the rule's target, (b=$1). Now if you include a `QSA` flag: ``` RewriteRule ^foo/(.*)$ /index.php?b=$1 [QSA] ``` The result becomes=`/index.php?b=bar&q=blah` *** The `L` flag simply means to stop applying any rules that follow. Given the same URL, `http://example.com/foo/bar?q=blah`, and given the rules: ``` RewriteRule ^foo - RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/bar.php RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /bar.php?z=$1 ``` The first rule gets applied and the URI gets passed through unchanged (via the `-` target). The rewrite engine then processes the next rule, and the URI gets rewritten to `/bar.php?z=foo/bar`. What happens when you add an `L` to the end: ``` RewriteRule ^foo - [L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/bar.php RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /bar.php?z=$1 ``` The URL `http://example.com/foo/bar` gets passed through untouched from the first rule, then **stops** because of the `L` flag. If the URL is `http://example.com/something/else` then the first rule doesn't match and the second rule gets applied, rewriting the URI to: `/bar.php?z=something/else` Note that since the rewrite engine loops through all the rules until the URI stops changing, the `L` flag will *not* prevent the looping, only any further rules from getting applied in the current iteration. [Share](https://stackoverflow.com/a/16468677)[Improve this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/posts/16468677/edit)Followanswered May 9, 2013 at 18:32[![Jon Lin's user avatar](https://i.stack.imgur.com/kGxQa.gif?s=64\&g=1)](https://stackoverflow.com/users/851273/jon-lin)[Jon Lin](https://stackoverflow.com/users/851273/jon-lin)141k2929 gold badges216216 silver badges218218 bronze badges * QSA replaces `?` to `&`, making it impossible to distinguish between `/page&foobar` vs `/page?foobar`. How can I stop QSA from replacing `?` to `&`? – [Pacerier](https://stackoverflow.com/users/632951/pacerier) [Sep 27, 2017 at 6:06](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16468098/what-is-l-in-qsa-l-in-htaccess#comment79837245_16468677) * @Pacerier if you need to encode the query string in the new query string, then you may want to look into using the `%{QUERY_STRING}` variable instead of using QSA – [Jon Lin](https://stackoverflow.com/users/851273/jon-lin) [Sep 27, 2017 at 14:32](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16468098/what-is-l-in-qsa-l-in-htaccess#comment79856786_16468677) [Add a comment](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16468098/what-is-l-in-qsa-l-in-htaccess#)-1 Example of \[L,QSA] > Before: ** ``` RewriteEngine On RewriteRule ^user/([^/]+)?$ index.php?user=$1 [L,QSA] ``` > After: ** You can also use other query too. > Like: *robert?query=value\&query2=value2\&query3=value3* [Share](https://stackoverflow.com/a/70753932)[Improve this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/posts/70753932/edit)Follow