Editing Web server (section)

==== URL redirection ====
{{Main|URL redirection}}

A web server program ''may'' have the capability of doing URL redirections to new URLs (new locations) which consists in replying to a client request message with a response message containing a new URL suited to access a valid or an existing web resource (client should redo the request with the new URL).<ref name="rfc7231-6.4">{{cite IETF |rfc=7231 |sectionname=Response Status Codes: Redirection 3xx |section=6.4|title=RFC 7231, HTTP/1.1: Semantics and Content|pages=53–54}}</ref>

URL redirection of location is used:<ref name="rfc7231-6.4" />
* to fix a directory name by adding a final slash '/';<ref name="ws-directory-listings" />
* to give a new URL for a no more existing URL path to a new path where that kind of web resource can be found.
* to give a new URL to another domain when current domain has too much load.

Example 1: a URL path points to a '''directory''' name but it does not have a final slash '/' so web server sends a redirect to client in order to instruct it to redo the request with the fixed path name.<ref name="ws-directory-listings" />

From:<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;<code>/directory1/directory2</code><br />
To:<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;<code>/directory1/directory2/</code>

Example 2: a whole set of documents has been '''moved inside website''' in order to reorganize their file system paths.

From:<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;<code>/directory1/directory2/2021-10-08/</code><br />
To:<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;<code>/directory1/directory2/2021/10/08/</code>

Example 3: a whole set of documents has been '''moved to a new website''' and now it is mandatory to use secure HTTPS connections to access them.

From:<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;<code><nowiki>http://www.example.com/directory1/directory2/2021-10-08/</nowiki></code><br />
To:<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;<code><nowiki>https://docs.example.com/directory1/2021-10-08/</nowiki></code>

Above examples are only a few of the possible kind of redirections.