mod_rewrite

[GaryCocs]

Hi Lads,
So starting to have a look at this stuff now, (test server is xampp) so I can test the simple rewrite rules below no problem.

## REWRITE DEFAULTS ###
RewriteEngine On

RewriteRule ^index\.php$ aboutus.php [R]
RewriteRule ^pub/([0-9]+)/$ pub.php?pubid=$1

But when I try and run a rewritemap I'm coming up with an error?

RewriteMap txtmap txt:categories.txt

By the code above should the categories.txt file be in the same file as the .htaaccess file? I'm having problems figuring out the directory structure!

Basically I have a DB which i reference by pubid's and would prefer to have a url including pubnames? so instead of

http://www.ratemypub.ie/pub.php?pubid=13

i would have

http://www.ratemypub.ie/cork/costigans or something like that?

much more seo friendly, what I was going to do is use the mod_rewrite to create a categories.txt file and do a look up there of the corresponding id?

Anyways for those seo experts, what is the best addressing for google?

http://www.ratemypub.ie/cork/the-hole-in-the-wall/

http://www.ratemypub.ie/cork/the+hole+in+the+wall/

http://www.ratemypub.ie/cork/the_hole_in_the_wall/

http://www.ratemypub.ie/cork/the%20h...%20the%20wall/

is it better to have a trailing "/" or should i leave it out?

Thanks
Gary

Any help at all would be much appreciated!

[glengara]

Main reason for using a / rather than a file extension is to future-proof the page in that you could change ithe format from say .html to .php without G treating it as a 'new" page.

As for addressing, I still favour the good old
http://www.ratemypub.ie/cork/the-hole-in-the-wall/