Ok so the next is...

http://www.killbillet.com/forum/rat-...nt-for-headers

Above is the incorrect link. Below is the correct link.

http://www.killbillet.com/showthread...+paint+headers

This one looks a bit harder... Any advice? Thanks thanks thanks!!!

--------------- Added [DATE]1460498265[/DATE] at [TIME]1460498265[/TIME] ---------------

When we upgraded in the first place it was from a previous version. Not 4.2.3. I didn't want to have to mess around with upgrading again in the near future. Thats why I made the transition to 5.x. The emails were sent from Vbulletin.

Just look at the URL structure and my previous rewriterule, you'll see that it's quite easy to make a rewriterule for that.

However, this will not work to URL's that are constructed differently.
It will only work to URL's which are constructed like: /forum/section-name/subsection-name/threadid-threadtitle

-

Also, you might want to include the following in your .htaccess file:
The absolute path is currently used on your site which causes 404 errors.
Or just include a backslash in front of the URL's in the RewriteRules.

I want to understand how this works so I am going to break this down. Hopefully you can confirm/help me understand.

Original redirect - RewriteRule ^member/([0-9]+)-(.*)$ member.php?$1-$2 [R=301,L]

New New redirect - RewriteRule ^forum/(.*)/(.*)/([0-9]+)-(.*)$ showthread.php?$3-$4 [R=301,L]

So the (.*) refers to any written title in a subfolder?

And the ([0-9]+) is any combination of numbers 0-9 in a link?

Does the $ signify the separation from the original link to the new? I almost think of it as the If x is this $(then) Y should be this?

Why is the first rule $1-$2 and the second is $3-$4?

And finally I am assuming this [R=301,L] is what is telling the server it is a redirect. correct?

RewriteRule ^forum/(.*)/(.*)/([0-9]+)-(.*)$ showthread.php?$3-$4 [R=301,L]

(.*) will match anything.
([0-9]+) will only match numbers of any length.

Whenever there's a match, it will be stored inside of a variable. In this case $3 will be the third match, which is the part which checks for the number. Each part that I made red will be stored in a variable.

The first URL only contains 2 different variables each time, so we only have to extract 2 variables.
The second URL contains 4 different things in the URL which may not be unique, that's why we simply match it with (.*).

RewriteRules and regexes are quite a pain. :)

Perfect. Thanks for breaking it down for me. You are an awesome guy Dave. If there was a service that would allow me to buy you a beer and have it delivered I would. Just saying.

--------------- Added [DATE]1460573313[/DATE] at [TIME]1460573313[/TIME] ---------------

One last question on that last set of coding. That last variable varies between the two links. One has - and the other has +. Does that matter?

--------------- Added [DATE]1460573408[/DATE] at [TIME]1460573408[/TIME] ---------------

and can I just list these in the .htaccess file? Is there a way I have to separate them?

No problem. :)

Not quite sure what you mean with your first question but regarding your second question, just place the rewriterules under each other and it should work fine.

For example:

Dave,

For the fist question. The $3 and $4 variables we are matching up from the links I sent. The first uses - or dashes to separate words whereas the other style uses the + or plus sign to separate the words. Does that matter at all? Or are they considered the same thing?

A + being used to separate words is rather odd because a + is considered as a space.

Were you referring to this URL?
http://www.killbillet.com/showthread...+paint+headers

Because the last part is a "highlight" part, that parameter is not required in order for the link to work.

I uploaded your coding and it gave me a 404 error. This is what the link shows...

http://www.killbillet.com/home/killb...nt-for-headers

Did I do something wrong?

Did you also add "RewriteBase /" after "RewriteEngine On"?