HELP! Any regular expression experts here?

[MJ DeMarco]

Any reg-ex experts on the board? For the life of me, I can never figure out regular expressions. I'm having a URL redirect problem (for an Htaccess file) and was hoping to find a solution. I've spent a bunch of time on several websites trying to figure out the solution.

Reg-exs have always been like Japanese to me. I tried using this tool to no avail:

Free Online Regular Expression Tester - FreeFormatter.com

Basically I'm looking to solve a problem a described below...

301 Redirect

OLD PAGE
-------
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/general-business-discussion/35110-golden-nuggets-tips-processes-how-tos.html

TO THIS NEW PAGE
-------
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/golden-nuggets-tips-processes-how-tos.35110/

Optimally, any link with "general-business-discussion" should redirect to "community/threads/[thread-title].[thread-number]

Looking for a "catch all" for the above, not just the one link redirected.

I know for a reg-ex expert this is easy-peezy like asking someone to translate English to Japanese. Probably is, I know no Japanese and after a few hours of trying to learn I'm no closer to the solution. I picked a bad day to have some caffeine.

Another tool that I found helpful but still haven't got to a solution...

Regex101 - online regex editor and debugger

 

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[Raoul Duke]

Unmaintained - Regex Moderation

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Unmaintained - Regex Moderation

Thank you but that really doesn't help me.

This seems to work in the RegEx101, now I got to translate it.

(general-business-discussion).(\d+)*.(.+)?(.html?)

AND

community/threads/$3.$2

 

[ApparentHorizon]

Thank you but that really doesn't help me.

This seems to work in the RegEx101, now I got to translate it.

(general-business-discussion).(\d+)*.(.+)?(.html?)

AND

community/threads/$3.$2

Something closer to this... I haven't tested it

RewriteRule ^community/threads/([0-9a-zA-Z-]+).([0-9]+)/ /general-business-discussion/$1-$2.html

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I think it needs to be the other way around? The url with "general-business-etc" should be the one redirecting.

 

[scottmsul]

There could be issues if someone creates a thread with "general-business-discussion" in the name. Maybe something like this?

^https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/general-business-discussion/(\d+)-(.+)(.html)?$

https://www.community/threads/$3.$2

More specific is generally better. ^ and $ are usually the start and end of a string but may depend on the language.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Something closer to this... I haven't tested it

RewriteRule ^community/threads/([0-9a-zA-Z-]+).([0-9]+)/ /general-business-discussion/$1-$2.html

There could be issues if someone creates a thread with "general-business-discussion" in the name. Maybe something like this?

^https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/general-business-discussion/(\d+)-(.+)(.html)?$

https://www.community/threads/$3.$2

More specific is generally better. ^ and $ are usually the start and end of a string but may depend on the language.

Thank you both, much appreciated.

Unfortunately neither work.

Can be tested here:
htaccess Tester - madewithlove

My iteration works, but it isn't working in the htaccess file.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

My iteration works, but it isn't working in the htaccess file.

Got it to work finally, but as @scottmsul mentioned, it's a little sketchy.

RewriteRule .*(general-business-discussion).(\d+)*.(.+)?(.html?) /community/threads/$3.$2 [R=301,L]