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#
#           rules.ce - A Sample CustomError Redirection Rules File
#
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#
######################## (pound signs denote comments) #########################
#
#
# Introduction
#
#
# CustomError's Redirection Rules allow you to single-out specific 404 errors by 
# their original request URLs, and then redirect those requests to any URL of 
# your choosing.  
#
#
# WARNING: Everything written in this sample rules file is meant purely 
# to provide instructions on how to use a CustomError Redirection Rules file.  
# The '#' symbol keeps CustomError from trying to operate on the text that 
# follows it in a line.  Once you are comfortable with CustomError redirection 
# rules, you can delete everything in this file, except any complete sample 
# rules you would like to modify and keep for your own use.  
#
#
# Redirection URLs can point to a target page designed especially to handle a 
# certain sub-set of 404s, or they can redirect the user to a different section 
# of the Web site, or to a different Web site altogether.
#
# You can also pass useful information about the original request (such as the 
# original URL, the query string or the referring URL) to the target page, or 
# even use this information to build the redirection URL itself.
#
# And since the Redirection Rules live in a rules.ce file (such as this one), 
# which in turn lives in the Web site's root directory, they can be set up and 
# modified by anyone with write access to that file.  Administrative access to 
# the Web server itself is not required.
#
# This "delegated administration" allows anyone with the appropriate level of 
# file access permissions (whether a developer, a site manager, or a 
# SEO specialist) to centrally administer the 404 redirection policies for an 
# entire site.
#
#
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#
#
# Understanding Redirection Rules
#
#
# Each Redirection Rule is on its own line, and consists of at least two parts, 
# separated by a tab.  An optional third part is also separated by a tab.  The 
# basic syntax of a Redirection Rule can be represented like this:
#
#   Request-Selector TAB Redirection-URL [ TAB Redirection-Type ]
#
# In this representation, TAB means what you get when you hit the tab key, and 
# the square brackets mean that everything inside them is optional.  The other 
# three identifiers represent the three main parts of the rule, as described 
# below.
#
#
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#
#
# 1. Request-Selector
#
# This stands for the pattern that will be used to select a particular 404, or 
# set of 404s, for redirection.  When a 404 error is raised by IIS, this pattern 
# will be applied to the original request URL and, if a match is found, the 404 
# error response will be replaced with a redirection message, telling the 
# browser to request a different URL.
#
# The Request-Selector is based on the path portion of a request URL that 
# generates a 404 error.  It can pick out a specific URL, or it can include an 
# asterisk (*) wildcard that allows it to match several URLs.  
#
# For example, the Request-Selector
#
#   /products/mypage.htm
#
# would only match a request for the URL http://hostname/products/mypage.htm.  
# But the Request-Selector
#
#   */mypage.htm
#
# would match any of the following requests:
#
#   /mypage.htm
#   /products/mypage.htm
#   /foo/bar/mypage.htm
#
#
# Order of Evaluation
#
# Note that the Redirection Rules in a rules file will be evaluated top to 
# bottom, and that the first rule with a matching Request-Selector is the one 
# that will be executed.  Thus, if you want to intermix more-specific and 
# less-specific Request-Selectors, you need to place the more-specific ones on 
# top, like so:
#
#    /products/mypage.htm
#    */mypage.htm
#
# If these two rules are both in the rules file, and in this order, then the URL
#
#    /products/mypage.htm
#
# will match the first rule, but the URL
#
#    /products/us/mypage.htm
#
# will match the second rule.
#
#
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#
#
# 2. Redirection-URL
#
# This stands for the URL to which the user will be redirected.  Technically, it 
# is the URL that CustomError will insert into the "Location" header of the 
# redirection response.
#
# Redirection-URL can be fully qualified 
# (e.g., http://hostname/products/index.htm) or a relative URL 
# containing only the path portion (e.g., /products/index.htm).  Fully qualified 
# URLs can reference other Web sites, while relative URLs always reference the 
# current site.  
# 
# Note: Always use a fully-qualified URL when redirecting to a secure 
# (HTTPS/SSL/TLS) connection.
#
# Here, for example, are several versions of a single Redirection Rule, each 
# with a different Redirection-URL.  Depending on which one of these rules was 
# present in the rules file, the user who requested the missing file 
# /products/mypage.htm would be redirected to the same site, or to a different 
# site (over HTTP or HTTPS, or even to a completely different site and URL):
#
#   /products/mypage.htm	/products/mypage.aspx
#   /products/mypage.htm	https://hostname/products/mypage.aspx
#   /products/mypage.htm	http://hostname2/products/mypage.aspx
#   /products/mypage.htm	https://hostname2/products/mypage.aspx
#   /products/mypage.htm	http://hostname3/about/newpage.aspx
#
# Note: Be careful, when creating your redirection URLs, not to set up any 
# infinite loops!
#
#
# Special Variables
#
# A Redirection-URL can contain one or more special variables.  These special 
# variables let you add information about the original request to the 
# Redirection-URL, either to construct the URL itself, or to pass the 
# information along in the query string.  When CustomError finds one of these 
# special variables in the Redirection-URL, it replaces it with the 
# corresponding information.
#
# There are four special variables you can use in the Redirection-URL:
#
#   $U - The full request URL, including the query string.
#   $P - The path portion of the request URL.
#   $Q - The query string portion of the request URL.
#   $R - The contents of the HTTP Referer header from the original request.
#
#
# For example, if the request URL that generated the 404 was this:
#
#   /products/mypage2.asp?var1=value1
#
#
# and if it was referred by this page:
#
#   /products/mypage1.asp
#
#
# and if the Redirection Rule was this: 	
#
#   /products/*   /ErrHandler.asp?path=$P&query=$Q
#
#
# then the URL to which the user would be redirected would look like this:
#
#   /ErrHandler.asp?path=%2Fproducts%2Fmypage2%2Easp&query=var1%3Dvalue1
#
#
# A redirected URL with this additional information appended would allow you to 
# do your own special handling of the 404 error in the script ErrHandler.asp, 
# for instance by reporting the original request information back to the user, 
# or by logging this information in a database, etc.
#
# In addition to passing information about the original request on the query 
# string of the redirect URL, You can also use the special variables to build 
# that URL.  This can come in handy, for instance, if you want to set up a 
# pattern of redirects from an old domain to a new one, while preserving the 
# directory structure.  To do that, you could use the following type of rule:
#
#   /*	http://newdomain$U
#
# NOTE: A simple rule like this one can handle all of the individual page 
# redirections for an obsolete domain and may help in the translation of search 
# engine relevancy/ranking from one domain to another.
#
#
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#
#
# 3. Redirection-Type 
#
# This represents the third and only optional part of a Redirection Rule.  The 
# Redirection-Type determines the type of HTTP redirect used in the error 
# response. The possible values are:
#
#
#  "302" or "temp" for a temporary redirect ("302 Found").
#  "301" or "perm" for a permanent redirect ("301 Moved Permanently").
#
#
# Here is a simple example that makes the redirect permanent:
#
#   /products/mypage.htm	/products/mypage.aspx	perm
#
#
# If the Redirection-Type is not included in the rule, the default is a 302 
# redirect.
#
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