Create different URLs for different languages with htaccess - php

Question

I am trying to create different URLs for different languages, for example http://localhost/shift/en without "en" being an actual folder (shift is an actual sub folder). I want the 'en' to be a variable I can use in my PHP code. Here is how my htaccess looks like:
RewriteEngine On
# Redirect Trailing Slashes If Not A Folder...
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)/$ /shift/$1 [L,R=301]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^ public/index.php [QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^(en|de|fr)/(.*)$ $2?lang=$1 [L,QSA]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1?lang=en [L,QSA]
Here's my PHP code:
var_dump($_GET['lang']);
When I go to http://localhost/shift/en it gives me a 404 and a PHP error: "undefined index: lang".

Answer 1

You need to edit your .htaccess like this-
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)$ index.php?lang=$1
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)/$ index.php?lang=$1
and the index.php:
echo $_GET['lang'];
If the url is- http://example.com/en, then the output will be- en
You can do the other things then, with the language.
If you want to give different versions of the page, I recommend you using a page for each language and include them if a language is asked for in the url.
For example- If someone types http://example.com/en, in the index.php you need to do this-
if($_GET['lang']=="en") {
$_SESSION['language']="en"; //Adding a session makes your life easier
include("en.php");
//everything else
}
I have updated the rewrite rule. Check it out.