What is htaccess File in WordPress?

The .htaccess file is a server file. It may be used for authorization, cache control, website optimization, and URL rewriting, and it can override many server configuration settings.

The .htaccess file is most typically used in WordPress for rewriting URLs to keep them cleaner and more readable by humans and search engines.

You can choose your URL structure in the Settings > Permalinks section of the WordPress Administration. WordPress will rewrite your .htaccess file to handle the URL structure you choose automatically.

If WordPress is unable to write to the file automatically, it will prompt you to do so. Manually editing the .htaccess file is risky because it can result in major server errors if configured wrong, so only copy the contents that WordPress advises.

W3 Total Cache, for example, will modify your .htaccess file in order to customize the plugin’s caching and optimization tools.

The .htaccess file is usually located in your WordPress site’s root directory. Your FTP client might not be able to see it since the server considers all file and directory names that start with a period to be hidden by default. You should enable the show hidden files option in your FTP client to see these files.

On the webserver, the .htaccess file is stored in a directory. When a request is made from that directory, the Apache webserver will execute this code. A .htaccess file is commonly placed in the root directory of a site, such as /public HTML. This set up the webserver for the whole site. Placing of .htaccess files in a subdirectory is less usual, but it is done and has some specific uses.

It’s important to remember that, like any other Apache configuration file, the .htaccess file is read from top to bottom. This means that top-level configurations will be executed first, followed by bottom-level configurations. To ensure that your rules are working effectively and efficiently, you must pay attention to their order.

Also Read: How to enable hotlink protection using .htaccess
Also Read: How To Force SSL Using .htaccess File
Also Read: How to Redirect HTTP to HTTPS Using. htaccess
Also Read: How To Create Or Edit Htaccess File In cPanel