htaccess adding .php to the end of $_GET variables when adding slash - php

Question

I attempted to create a little bit of htaccess which alters a URL from something like
http://localhost/website/page.php?id=_abc-123
to
http://localhost/website/page/_abc-123
It works for the most part, in that I can visit the page without having trouble locating scripts and CSS files. However, if I try to echo out $_GET["id"], instead of getting _abc-123, I will get _abc-123.php.
This is what I have so far within my htaccess file:
Options +FollowSymLinks
# remove extensions
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^([^\.]+)$ $1.php [NC,L]
# movie page
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^page/([^/]*)$ page.php?id=$1 [L]
All help is appreciated,
Thanks.

Answer 1

Test movie page first, and test if file with .php exists:
Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
RewriteEngine On
# movie page
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^page/([^/]*)$ page.php?id=$1 [L]
# remove extensions
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/$1.php -f
RewriteRule ^([^.]+)/?$ $1.php [L]

Answer 2

First of all, if you are not sure where your error lies, you can try online tools for .htaccess like htaccess.mwl.be.
Obviously your first RewriteRule contitions are met, which results in your "error".
With the help of this tool and some knowledge about how regex work, we can fix your .htaccess to this:
Options +FollowSymLinks
# remove extensions
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^([^\.]+)$ $1.php [NC]
# movie page
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^page/([^/]*)$ page.php?id=$1 [L]
The only thing I changed is removing the "L" flag from your first RewriteRule, because its RewriteCond is met but we need it to go through the second RewriteRule.
For more information about the L-flag have a look at the documentation.