url-rewriting.md

title	author	description	keywords	ms.author	manager	ms.date	ms.topic	ms.assetid	ms.technology	ms.prod	uid
URL Rewriting Middleware in ASP.NET Core | Microsoft Docs	guardrex	An introduction to URL rewriting and redirecting with instructions on how to use URL Rewriting Middleware in ASP.NET Core applications.	ASP.NET Core 中文文档, URL rewriting, URL rewrite, URL redirecting, URL redirect, middleware, apache_mod	riande	wpickett	03/13/2017	article	e6130638-c410-4161-9921-b658ce988bd1	aspnet	asp.net-core	fundamentals/url-rewriting

URL Rewriting Middleware in ASP.NET Core

By Luke Latham and Mikael Mengistu

View or download sample code

URL rewriting is the act of modifying request URLs based on one or more predefined rules. URL rewriting creates an abstraction between resource locations and their addresses so that the locations and addresses are not tightly linked. There are several scenarios where URL rewriting is valuable:

• Moving or replacing server resources temporarily or permanently while maintaining stable locators for those resources
• Splitting request processing across different applications or across areas of one application
• Removing, adding, or reorganizing URL segments on incoming requests
• Optimizing public URLs for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Permitting the use of friendly public URLs to help people predict the content they will find by following a link
• Redirecting insecure requests to secure endpoints
• Preventing image hotlinking

You can define rules for changing the URL in several ways, including regular expression (regex) matching rules, rules based on the Apache mod_rewrite module, rules based on the IIS Rewrite Module, and with your own method and class rule logic. This document introduces URL rewriting with instructions on how to use URL Rewriting Middleware in ASP.NET Core applications.

Note

URL rewriting can reduce the performance of an application. Where feasible, you should limit the number and complexity of rules.

URL redirect and URL rewrite

The difference in wording between URL redirect and URL rewrite may seem subtle at first but has important implications for providing resources to clients. ASP.NET Core's URL Rewriting Middleware is capable of meeting the need for both.

A URL redirect is a client-side operation, where the client is instructed to access a resource at another address. This requires a round-trip to the server, and the redirect URL returned to the client will appear in the browser's address bar when the client makes a new request for the resource. If /resource is redirected to /different-resource, the client will request /resource, and the server will respond that the client should obtain the resource at /different-resource with a status code indicating that the redirect is either temporary or permanent. The client will execute a new request for the resource at the redirect URL.

When redirecting requests to a different URL, you will indicate whether the redirect is permanent or temporary. The 301 (Moved Permanently) status code is used where the resource has a new, permanent URL and you wish to instruct the client that all future requests for the resource should use the new URL. The client will cache the response when a 301 status code is received. The 302 (Found) status code is used where the redirection is temporary or generally subject to change, such that the client should not store and reuse the redirect URL in the future. For more information, see RFC 2616: Status Code Definitions.

A URL rewrite is a server-side operation to provide a resource from a different resource address. Rewriting a URL doesn't require a round-trip to the server. The rewritten URL is not returned to the client and won't appear in a browser's address bar. When /resource is rewritten to /different-resource, the client will request /resource, and the server will internally fetch the resource at /different-resource. Although the client might be able to retrieve the resource at the rewritten URL, the client won't be informed that the resource exists at the rewritten URL when it makes its request and receives the response.

URL rewriting sample application

You can explore the features of the URL Rewriting Middleware with the URL rewriting sample application. The application applies rewrite and redirect rules and shows the resultant rewritten or redirected URL.

When to use URL Rewriting Middleware

Use URL Rewriting Middleware when you are unable to use the URL Rewrite module in IIS on Windows Server, the Apache mod_rewrite module on Apache Server, URL rewriting on Nginx, or your application is hosted on WebListener server. The main reasons to use the server-based URL rewriting technologies in IIS, Apache, or Nginx are that the middleware doesn't support the full features of these modules and the performance of the middleware probably won't match that of the modules. However, there are some features of the server modules that don't work with ASP.NET Core projects, such as the IsFile and IsDirectory constraints of the IIS Rewrite module. In these scenarios, you can use the middleware instead.

Package

To include the middleware in your project, add a reference to the Microsoft.AspNetCore.Rewrite package. The middleware depends on .NET Framework 4.5.1 or .NET Standard 1.3 or later. This feature is available for apps that target ASP.NET Core 1.1.0 or later.

Extension and options

Establish your URL rewrite and redirect rules by creating an instance of the RewriteOptions class with extension methods for each of your rules. Chain multiple rules in the order that you would like them processed. The RewriteOptions are passed into the URL Rewriting Middleware as it's added to the request pipeline with app.UseRewriter(options);.

[!code-csharpMain]

URL redirect

Use AddRedirect() to redirect requests. The first parameter will contain your regex for matching on the path of the incoming URL. The second parameter is the replacement string. The third parameter, if present, specifies the status code. If you don't specify the status code, it defaults to 302 (Found), which indicates that the resource has been temporarily moved or replaced.

[!code-csharpMain]

In a browser with developer tools enabled, make a request to the sample application with the path /redirect-rule/1234/5678. The regex matches the request path on redirect-rule/(.*), and the path is replaced with /redirected/1234/5678. The redirect URL is sent back to the client with a 302 (Found) status code. The browser makes a new request at the redirect URL, which will appear in the browser's address bar. Since no rules in the sample application match on the redirect URL, the second request receives a 200 (OK) response from the application and the body of the response shows the redirect URL. A complete roundtrip is made to the server when a URL is redirected.

Original Request: /redirect-rule/1234/5678

The part of the expression contained by parentheses is called a capture group. The dot (.) of the expression means match any character, and the asterisk (*) signifies to match the preceding character zero or more times. Therefore, the last two path segments of the URL, 1234/5678, are captured by capture group (.*). Any value you provide in the request URL after redirect-rule/ will be captured by this single capture group.

In the replacement string, captured groups are injected into the string with the dollar sign ($) followed by the sequence number of the capture. The first capture group value is obtained with $1, the second with $2, and they continue in sequence for the capture groups in your regex. There is only one captured group in the redirect rule regex in the sample application, so there is only one injected group in the replacement string, which is $1. When the rule is applied, the URL becomes /redirected/1234/5678.

URL redirect to a secure endpoint

Use AddRedirectToHttps() to redirect insecure requests to the same host and path with secure HTTPS protocol (https://) with the flexibility to choose the status code and port. If the status code is not supplied, the middleware will default to 302 (Found). If the port is not supplied, the middleware will default to null, which means the protocol will change to https:// and the client will access the resource on port 443. The example shows how to set the status code to 301 (Moved Permanently) and change the port to 5001.

var options = new RewriteOptions()
    .AddRedirectToHttps(301, 5001);

app.UseRewriter(options);

Use AddRedirectToHttpsPermanent() to redirect insecure requests to the same host and path with secure HTTPS protocol (https:// on port 443). The middleware will set the status code to 301 (Moved Permanently).

The sample application is capable of demonstrating how to use AddRedirectToHttps() or AddRedirectToHttpsPermanent(). Add the extension method to the RewriteOptions(). Make an insecure request to the application at any URL. In order to see the response in a browser, you will probably need to dismiss a browser security warning that the self-signed certificate is untrusted.

Original Request using AddRedirectToHttps(301, 5001): /secure

Original Request using AddRedirectToHttpsPermanent(): /secure

URL rewrite

Use AddRewrite() to create a rules for rewriting URLs. The first parameter will contain your regex for matching on the incoming URL path. The second parameter is the replacement string. The third parameter, skipRemainingRules: {true|false}, will indicate to the middleware whether or not to skip additional rewrite rules if the current rule is applied.

[!code-csharpMain]

Original Request: /rewrite-rule/1234/5678

The first thing you will notice in the regex is the carat (^) at the beginning of the expression. This means that matching should be attempted starting at the beginning of the URL path.

In the earlier example with the redirect rule, redirect-rule/(.*), there is no carat at the start of the regex; therefore, any characters may precede redirect-rule/ in the path for a successful match.

Path	Match
/redirect-rule/1234/5678	Yes
/my-cool-redirect-rule/1234/5678	Yes
/anotherredirect-rule/1234/5678	Yes

The rewrite rule, ^rewrite-rule/(\d+)/(\d+), will only match paths if they start with rewrite-rule/. Notice the difference in matching between the rewrite rule below and the redirect rule above.

Path	Match
/rewrite-rule/1234/5678	Yes
/my-cool-rewrite-rule/1234/5678	No
/anotherrewrite-rule/1234/5678	No

Following the ^rewrite-rule/ portion of the expression, there are two capture groups, (\d+)/(\d+). The \d signifies match a digit (number). The plus sign (+) means match one or more of the preceding character. Therefore, the URL must contain a number followed by a forward-slash followed by another number. These capture groups are injected into the resultant rewritten URL as $1 and $2. The rewrite rule replacement string places the captured groups into the querystring. The requested path of /rewrite-rule/1234/5678 is rewritten to obtain the resource at /rewritten?var1=1234&var2=5678. If a querystring is present on the original request, it's preserved when the URL is rewritten.

There is no roundtrip to the server to obtain the resource. If the resource exists, it's fetched and returned to the client with a 200 (OK) status code. Because the client isn't redirected, the URL in the browser address bar doesn't change. As far as the client is concerned, the URL rewrite operation never occurred.

Note

skipRemainingRules: true should be used whenever possible, because matching rules is an expensive process and slows down application response time. For the fastest application response, order your rewrite rules from most frequently matched to least frequently matched and skip the processing of the remaining rules when a match occurs and no additional rule processing is required.

Apache mod_rewrite

You can apply Apache mod_rewrite rules with AddApacheModRewrite(). The first parameter takes an IFileProvider, which is provided in the sample application via Dependency Injection by injecting the IHostingEnvironment and using it to provide the ContentRootFileProvider. The second parameter is the path to your rules file, which is ApacheModRewrite.txt in the sample application. You must make sure that the rules file is deployed with the application. For more information and examples of mod_rewrite rules, see Apache mod_rewrite.

[!code-csharpMain]

The sample application will redirect requests from /apache-mod-rules-redirect/(.\*) to /redirected?id=$1. The response status code is 302 (Found).

[!codeMain]

Original Request: /apache-mod-rules-redirect/1234

Supported server variables

The middleware supports the following Apache mod_rewrite server variables:

• CONN_REMOTE_ADDR
• HTTP_ACCEPT
• HTTP_CONNECTION
• HTTP_COOKIE
• HTTP_FORWARDED
• HTTP_HOST
• HTTP_REFERER
• HTTP_USER_AGENT
• HTTPS
• IPV6
• QUERY_STRING
• REMOTE_ADDR
• REMOTE_PORT
• REQUEST_FILENAME
• REQUEST_METHOD
• REQUEST_SCHEME
• REQUEST_URI
• SCRIPT_FILENAME
• SERVER_ADDR
• SERVER_PORT
• SERVER_PROTOCOL
• TIME
• TIME_DAY
• TIME_HOUR
• TIME_MIN
• TIME_MON
• TIME_SEC
• TIME_WDAY
• TIME_YEAR

IIS URL Rewrite Module rules

To use rules that would normally apply to the IIS URL Rewrite Module, use AddIISUrlRewrite(). The first parameter takes an IFileProvider, while the second parameter is the path to your XML rules file, which is IISUrlRewrite.xml in the sample application. You must make sure that the rules file is deployed with the application. Don't point this at your web.config file, as these rules should be stored outside of your web.config to avoid conflicts with the IIS Rewrite module. For more information and examples of IIS URL Rewrite Module rules, see Using Url Rewrite Module 2.0 and URL Rewrite Module Configuration Reference.

[!code-csharpMain]

The sample application will rewrite requests from /iis-rules-rewrite/(.*) to /rewritten?id=$1. The response is sent to the client with a 200 (OK) status code.

[!code-xmlMain]

Original Request: /iis-rules-rewrite/1234

If you have an active IIS Rewrite Module with server-level rules configured that would impact your application in undesirable ways, you can disable the IIS Rewrite Module for an application. For more information, see Disabling IIS modules.

Unsupported features

The middleware does not support the following IIS URL Rewrite Module features:

• Global rules (Basic Middleware #169)
• Rewrite Maps (Basic Middleware #168)
• CustomResponse action (Basic Middleware #135)
• Custom Server Variables (Basic Middleware #183)
• trackAllCaptures (Basic Middleware #178)
• Wildcards
• LogRewrittenUrl

Supported server variables

The middleware supports the following IIS URL Rewrite Module server variables:

• CONTENT_LENGTH
• CONTENT_TYPE
• HTTP_ACCEPT
• HTTP_CONNECTION
• HTTP_COOKIE
• HTTP_HOST
• HTTP_REFERER
• HTTP_URL
• HTTP_USER_AGENT
• HTTPS
• LOCAL_ADDR
• QUERY_STRING
• REMOTE_ADDR
• REMOTE_PORT
• REQUEST_FILENAME
• REQUEST_URI

Note

You can also obtain an IFileProvider via a PhysicalFileProvider. This approach may provide greater flexibility for the location of your rewrite rules files. Make sure that your rewrite rules files are deployed to the server at the path you provide.

PhysicalFileProvider fileProvider = new PhysicalFileProvider(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory());

Method-based rule

Use Add(Action<RewriteContext> applyRule) to implement your own rule logic in a method. The RewriteContext exposes the HttpContext for use in your method. The context.Result determines how additional pipeline processing is handled.

context.Result	Action
RuleResult.ContinueRules (default)	Continue applying rules
RuleResult.EndResponse	Stop applying rules and send the response
RuleResult.SkipRemainingRules	Stop applying rules and send the context to the next middleware

[!code-csharpMain]

The sample application demonstrates a method that redirects requests for paths that end with .xml. If you make a request for /file.xml, it's redirected to /xmlfiles/file.xml. The status code is set to 301 (Moved Permanently). For a redirect, you must explicitly set the status code of the response; otherwise, a 200 (OK) status code will be returned and the redirect won't occur on the client.

[!code-csharpMain]

Original Request: /file.xml

IRule-based rule

Use Add(IRule) to implement your own rule logic in a class that derives from IRule. Using an IRule provides greater flexibility over using the method-based rule approach. Your derived class may include a constructor, where you can pass in parameters for the ApplyRule method.

[!code-csharpMain]

The values of the parameters in the sample application for the extension and the newPath are checked to meet several conditions. The extension must contain a value, and the value must be .png, .jpg, or .gif. If the newPath isn't valid, an ArgumentException is thrown. If you make a request for image.png, it's redirected to /png-images/image.png. If you make a request for image.jpg, it's redirected to /jpg-images/image.jpg. The status code is set to 301 (Moved Permanently), and the context.Result is set to stop processing rules and send the response.

[!code-csharpMain]

Original Request: /image.png

Original Request: /image.jpg

Regex examples

Goal	Regex String & Match Example	Replacement String & Output Example
Rewrite path into querystring	^path/(.*)/(.*) /path/abc/123	path?var1=$1&var2=$2 /path?var1=abc&var2=123
Strip trailing slash	(.*)/$ /path/	$1 /path
Enforce trailing slash	(.*[^/])$ /path	$1/ /path/
Avoid rewriting specific requests	(.*[^(\.axd)])$ Yes: /resource.htm No: /resource.axd	rewritten/$1 /rewritten/resource.htm /resource.axd
Rearrange URL segments	path/(.*)/(.*)/(.*) path/1/2/3	path/$3/$2/$1 path/3/2/1
Replace a URL segment	^(.*)/segment2/(.*) /segment1/segment2/segment3	$1/replaced/$2 /segment1/replaced/segment3

Resources

• Application Startup
• Middleware
• Regular expressions in .NET
• Regular expression language - quick reference
• Apache mod_rewrite
• Using Url Rewrite Module 2.0 (for IIS)
• URL Rewrite Module Configuration Reference
• IIS URL Rewrite Module Forum
• Keep a simple URL structure
• 10 URL Rewriting Tips and Tricks
• To slash or not to slash