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How to Configure Redirects Manually

Last modified: 2025 July 23

Overview

This document explains how to configure a redirect manually. A redirect automatically sends users from one website to another.

While you can usually use cPanel’s Redirects interface (cPanel » Home » Domains » Redirects) to create your redirect, some third-party applications require you to configure your .htaccess file manually.

Why you might need to set up a redirect manually

When you add a redirect with the cPanel Redirects interface (cPanel » Home » Domains » Redirects), the system places redirect rules at the bottom of the .htaccess file. Some third-party applications will ignore your rules and will only read the rules and configurations in their section of the .htaccess file].

Additionally, redirects added by a third-party application or content management system, such as WordPress®, may not function properly.

When this happens, you may need to configure your redirects manually.

Edit your .htaccess file through the File Manager interface

To edit your .htaccess file, perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to cPanel’s File Manager interface (cPanel » Home » Files » File Manager) interface.
  2. In the top navigation bar, click Settings. The Preferences interface will open.
  3. Select Show Hidden Files (dotfiles).
  4. Click Save. The Preferences interface will close.

Your .htaccess file will now appear in the public_html folder.

To learn more about actions you can perform in cPanel’s File Manager interface (cPanel » Home » Files » File Manager), including editing your files, read our File Manager documentation.

Examples

Use the following examples to configure your redirects manually in your .htaccess file.

301 Permanent redirects

The following is a permanent redirect of an entire site from its original location to example.com:

Redirect 301 / http://example.com/

The following is a permanent redirect of a page on example.com to a different page on example.com:

Redirect 301 /original.html http://www.example.com/new.html

The following is a permanent redirect of an entire directory on example.com to a different directory on example.com:

Redirect 301 /old-directory http://www.example.com/new-directory

302 Temporary redirects

The following is a temporary redirect of an entire site from its original location to example.com:

Redirect 302 / http://example.com/

The following is a temporary redirect of a page on example.com to a different page on example.com:

Redirect 302 /original.html http://www.example.com/new.html

The following is a temporary redirect of an entire directory on example.com to a different directory on example.com:

Redirect 302 /old-directory http://www.example.com/new-directory

Redirect Drupal

The following example displays the configuration that you must add to the top of the .htaccess file to add a redirect for the Drupal content management system. In this example:

  • drupal.user.example.com represents the URL to redirect.
  • http://cpanel.net/ represents the URL to which to redirect.
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<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^drupal\.user\.example\.com$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.drupal\.user\.example\.com$
RewriteRule ^cptest$ "http\:\/\/cpanel\.net\/" [R=301,L]
</IfModule>

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