Rewrite directive in Nginx - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Using the Nginx Rewrite Directive

📖 Scenario: You are managing a website hosted on an Nginx server. You want to redirect users from an old URL path to a new one to keep your site organized and avoid broken links.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to use the rewrite directive in Nginx to redirect requests from one URL path to another.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a server block with a root directory

Add a rewrite rule to redirect from /oldpath to /newpath

Use the correct syntax for the rewrite directive

Test the rewrite by printing the final URL after redirection

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Websites often change their URL structure. Using rewrite rules in Nginx helps keep old links working and improves user experience.

💼 Career

Knowing how to configure Nginx rewrite rules is essential for DevOps engineers and system administrators managing web servers.

1

Create a basic Nginx server block

Create a server block with listen 80; and root /var/www/html; inside the http block.

Nginx

# Your code here
server {
    # Add listen and root directives
}

Need a hint?

The server block defines how Nginx handles requests. Use listen 80; to listen on port 80 and root /var/www/html; to set the website files location.

2

Add a rewrite rule to redirect /oldpath to /newpath

Inside the server block, add a rewrite directive that matches ^/oldpath$ and redirects to /newpath with a permanent redirect flag permanent.

Nginx

server {
    listen 80;
    root /var/www/html;
    # Add rewrite directive here
}

Need a hint?

The rewrite directive uses a regular expression to match the old URL path and redirects permanently to the new path.

3

Add a location block for /newpath

Inside the server block, add a location /newpath block that returns a 200 status with the text New path reached using the return directive.

Nginx

server {
    listen 80;
    root /var/www/html;
    rewrite ^/oldpath$ /newpath permanent;
    # Add location block here
}

Need a hint?

The location block handles requests to /newpath and returns a simple message to confirm the redirect works.

4

Test the rewrite by simulating a request

Print the final URL after rewriting /oldpath to /newpath by simulating a request in a comment or explanation.

Nginx

# Your code here
# Simulate request to /oldpath and show final URL

Need a hint?

Since Nginx config files do not print output, explain the effect of the rewrite directive in a comment or text.