How to Redirect Invalid URLs with Trailing Slashes to a 404 Page in Apache and Nginx

1.Apache Server Solution

If your website is running on Apache web servers, here is how to redirect to a 404 page:

Step 1: Open the .htaccess file

• View the root folder of your website
• Find a file which is named .htaccess

Step 2: Add Rules

These rules need to be added in the .htaccess file to redirect invalid URLs to a 404 page:

RewriteEngine On
# Redirect invalid URLs
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^.*$ /404.php [L,R=404]
# Define a custom 404 error page 
ErrorDocument 404 /404.html

Step 3: Create a 404.html File

In the same root folder, create a new file with the name 404.html.

Add your custom 404 message like:

<h1>404 - Page Not Found</h1>
<p>Sorry, the page you’re looking for doesn’t exist.</p>

Step 4: Restart Apache

To apply your 404 direction changes, run this:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 5: Test

• Search for the URL in your browser.

https://yourcompany.com/invalid/

• This should redirect to the 404.html page and show "Sorry, the page you’re looking for doesn’t exist” message.

What do these rules mean?

• RewriteEngine On: This will turn the rewrite engine on
• RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f: The rule will make sure the request does not match a valid file in your website root folders.
• RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d: This rule will make sure the request does not match a valid directory on your website.
• RewriteRule ^.*$ /404.php [L,R=404]: This rule redirects the invalid URLs to the 404.php (Error) page. [L] stops the processing, and [R=404] will specify the HTTP 404 status code.

Example

To redirect the pages for trailing slashes on Apache, use this code:

RewriteEngine On
# Redirect trailing slashes on invalid URLs to 404
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^.*$ /404.php [L,R=404]

This code is only applied to requests ending with / which do not have a valid directory.

2. Nginx Server Solution

The web server Nginx needs a different way of redirecting the invalid URLs to a 404 page. Here, the location block in the server configuration file is used for redirection. (site-specific config files like nginx.conf).

Use this rule to redirect invalid URLs to a 404 Page:

In you Nginx server block, add this configuration code:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourcompany.com;

    root /var/www/html;

    # Return a 404 for invalid URLs
    location ~* .*/$ {
        try_files $uri =404;
    }

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

Next, create a 404.html File

In the /var/www/html/ , create a 404.html. file

Add this custom message:

<h1>404 - Page Not Found</h1>
<p>Oops! The page you’re looking for doesn’t exist.</p>

Restart Nginx to test the applied changes:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

• Visit an nvalid URL, for example, https://yourcompany.com/invalidpage/
• The page should display a custom 404 page.

Explanation of the rules:

• location ~* .*/$: This rule matches URLs with a trailing slash that does not direct to a valid resource.
• try_files $uri =404;: This rule will check if the file or directory exists. If the file/directory does not exist, you get a 404 error.
• try_files $uri $uri/ =404;: Makes sure that all invalid requests (like /services.php/invalidpath/) are redirected to the 404 error page.

Example

To redirect trailing slashes that leads to content that is non-existent:

location ~ ^.+/$ {
    try_files $uri =404;
}

This URL

example.com/nonexistentpath/

then returns a 404 error.

Testing the 404 Redirect Rules

After you configure the rules, test for these URLs to make sure the redirection is working:

• Search for valid URLs like yourcompany/services.php or yourcompany/about-us/
  
  These URLs should load normally.
  
  
• Search for Invalid URLs, for example:
  
  yourcompany/services.php/invalidpath/ or any non-existent page, it should return a 404 error.

You can even use tools like Browser Console which can help you check HTTP status codes by using this command.

cURL Command:

curl -I https://yourdomain.com/invalidpath/