htaccess removal of backslash - php

Question

I'm sure this question has come up before but I don't really know what to search.
my .htaccess file seems to be removing the '/' when I click links externally for the site.
For example, when I click "www.mysite.com/home" I'm directed to "www.mysite.comhome"
Here's my .htaccess
# Turn mod_rewrite on
Allow from all
RewriteEngine On
Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
ErrorDocument 404 /errors/404.php
DirectoryIndex home.php
# To externally redirect /dir/foo.php to /dir/foo
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,}\s([^.]+)\.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1 [R,L]
# To internally forward /dir/foo to /dir/foo.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.*?)/?$ $1.php [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !=POST
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*?)(/{2,})(.*)$
RewriteRule . %1/%3 [R=301,L]
Thanks again !!

Answer 1

Problem is your last rule that is attempting to string multiple slashes from URLs.
You can use these rules in your site root .htaccess:
ErrorDocument 404 /errors/404.php
DirectoryIndex home.php
Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
RewriteEngine On
# To externally redirect /dir/foo.php to /dir/foo
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,}\s([^.]+)\.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1 [R=301,L,NE]
# strip multiple slashes
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} //
RewriteRule ^.*$ /$0 [R=301,L,NE]
# To internally forward /dir/foo to /dir/foo.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.*?)/?$ $1.php [L]
Make sure to use a new browser to avoid old cache or clean your browser cache completely before testing this change.