Rewrite URL one folder up - php

Question

I am trying to redirect my project folders one level up in stucture.
I would like to change URL adresses as follows:
http://localhost/my-website/projects/project1/
http://localhost/my-website/projects/project2/
...
to
http://localhost/my-website/project1/
http://localhost/my-website/project2/
...
In root folder I do not have these project folders, they are in "projects" folder
the structure is like this
/root/
/projects/
/project1/
index.php
/project2/
index.php
/project3/
index.php
index.php
.htaccess
So if user enters URL http://localhost/my-website/project1/, the URL stays the same but it works as if he entered the full adress. Is this achievable? I tried so many options so far and I am still not able to do it...

Answer 1

First of all, don't use a .htaccess file, if you can modify the Apache config files.
It's better to add these types of configuration inside the vhost config instead.
With that said:
.htaccess
<Location "/">
AllowOverride None
Options FollowSymLinks
Require all granted
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
# RewriteRule ^project(.*) projects/project$1 [QSA,L]
# RewriteRule ^project([0-9*]?)/(.*) projects/project$1/$2 [QSA,L]
</IfModule>
</Location>
/my-website/project1/ becomes /my-website/projects/project1/
/my-website/project1/whatever becomes /my-website/projects/project1/whatever
Uncomment the one that is more up your ally,
the first one is more generic and catches all after project,
the second one is more specific and looks for a number.