htaccess redirect to remove index.php - php

Question

I want user to be able use $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] as a placeholder for which file to serve and get rid of index.php in the address bar
For example I want to serve me.com/index.php/settings1 as me.com/settings1 and so on for any PATH_INFO that the user goes to.
How would I write this as a htaccess rule? I don't even know where to start
If it helps, I'm on a shared hosting plan from hostgator.
Based on #EddyFreddy suggestion I tried both ways mentioned in that question with no luck. Here's what the file looks like so far:
suPHP_ConfigPath /home/user/php.ini
<Files php.ini>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.mysite.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule .? http://mysite.com%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [L] # tried with and without the `?`

Answer 1

This can be easily handled by mod_rewrite. Use this code in .htaccess under DOCUMENT_ROOT:
Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
# Turn mod_rewrite on
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
# external redirect from /index.php/foo to /foo/
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,}\s/+index\.php(/[^\s\?]+)? [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1/ [L,R]
# external redirect to add trailing slash
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,}\s/+((?!.+/[\s\?])[^\s\?]+) [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1/ [L,R]
# internal forward from /foo to /index.php/foo
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-l
RewriteRule ^ index.php%{REQUEST_URI} [L,NC]
After you verify that everything is working fine then change R to R=301.

Answer 2

After longterm evaluation I found out, that the version from anubhava doesn't work for me in all cases. So I tried this modified version. It will handle existing files in existing dirs correct and produces no double-slashes.
Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
# Turn mod_rewrite on
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
###### Add trailing slash (optional) ######
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/[^\.]+[^/]$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1/ [R=301,L]
###### external redirect from /index.php/foo to /foo ######
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,}\s/+index\.php(/.+)?[\s\?] [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1 [L,R=301]
###### internal forward from /foo to /index.php/foo ######
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-l
RewriteRule ^ index.php%{REQUEST_URI} [L]