make exception for previous rule in htaccess - php

Question

I have the following htaccess rule
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z-_0-9]+)/([a-zA-Z-_0-9]+)$ ?page=$1&action=$2 [L]
For example if I want to add something or edit something the url will be like:
www.website.com/page_name/add
And that rule is applicable for all pages except for one page named portfolio.. for this page I want first to get a category value and than add or edit stuffs.
I tried under the first rule to put this rule:
RewriteRule ^portfolio/([a-zA-Z-_0-9]+)$ ?page=portfolio&category=$1 [L]
To get a link like that:
www.website.com/portfolio/demos
Or
www.website.com/portfolio/desings
But always the first rule that works (consider the 2nd parameter like an action and not like an category).
Any idea for make exception for that specific page to treat what comes after like an "cat" and not like an "action"?

Answer 1

The L flag in HTACCESS tells Apache to ignore anything after that rule if the pattern is a match (which it is in your example).
Swap the rules around:
RewriteRule ^portfolio/([a-zA-Z-_0-9]+)$ ?page=???&category=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z-_0-9]+)/([a-zA-Z-_0-9]+)$ ?page=$1&action=$2 [L]
Also, notice that in the first rule, there is no second parameter (since there's only one pattern), so I'm not sure where you intend to send the user...

Answer 2

First exclude portifilio from first rule so , replace this line :
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/portfolio
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z-_0-9]+)/([a-zA-Z-_0-9]+)$ ?page=$1&action=$2 [L]
Also in this rule :
RewriteRule ^portfolio/([a-zA-Z-_0-9]+)$ ?page=$1&category=$2 [L]
you will be able match against the number only not page name , it should be like this :
RewriteRule ^portfolio/([a-zA-Z-_0-9]+)$ ?page=portfolio&category=$1 [L]
OR
RewriteRule ^(whatever)/([a-zA-Z-_0-9]+)$ ?page=$1&category=$2 [L]