How to exclude certain subfolders from the parent directory's rewrite rules

Introduction

Many content management systems, such as WordPress, provide a default .htaccess file that contains SEO-friendly rewrite rules. These can often cause issues with subfolders that have their own application. This article provides the procedure to exclude a folder from rewrite rules.

Procedure

1. Open the .htaccess in the folder's parent directory in your preferred text editor.
2. Insert a new line before the first RewriteCond line.
3. Add the following to the new line.

   RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/folder/.*$

   Please note that "folder" must be replaced with the folder name to exclude.
4. Save the changes and exit the text editor.

The following is an example of a rewrite rule excluding a folder.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/folder/.*$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

Additional resources

How to edit a file on command-line

How to edit files via File Manager