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I am using a (dv) server from Media Temple, and I have wordpress installed on the root of my domain.

I have a directory called support that holds a standard xhtml webpage, but if the user enters the domain name as follows:


the wordpress page not found shows up, however, if the user enters:


the xhtml page shows up.

Is it possible to force the server to direct anyone who types /directory to /directory/?

Sorry if this isn't making much sense!



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what type of server? Nginx, IIS, Apache, something creative? –  GruffTech Aug 18 '10 at 18:31

2 Answers 2

up vote 0 down vote accepted

If this is a Linux server it should happen anyway as you can't have a file and a directory in the same place with the same name - I'd guess that the request is being rewritten so maybe your .htaccess file would help here.

Aside from that, the following in your .htaccess should do it:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^directory$ directory/

Alias /directory /directory/

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Worked a charm, thanks! –  dannymcc Aug 18 '10 at 18:45

the behaviour you are asking for is the DEFAULT in any sane server for good reasons...

assuming it's apache, maybe your hoster disabled THIS? http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_dir.html#directoryslash (it would be a really bad idea to do that globally on a shared hosting server, if it's the case, do complain about it...)

also read that entry to understand WHY that behaviour is the default...

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actually, most likely it's due to some rewriterule(s) in your htaccess file for wordpress that overrides the default behaviour... usually you would have a rule in there that passes requests for existing files to the default handling... –  r00t Dec 20 '10 at 19:17

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