Rewrite rule in htaccess is not working - .htaccess

Question

Here are the .htaccess rules:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^([^/]*)$ content.php?seourl=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^pdf/([^/]*)$ content-single.php?seourl=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^browsepdf$ browse.php [L]
RewriteRule ^browsepdf-([^/]*)$ browse.php?page=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^download/([^/]*)$ download.php?pdf=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^sitemap.xml$ xmlsitemap.php [L]
Options -Indexes
Here every URL is pointing to content.php?seourl=$1, even css, js and image files.
Here are some example URLs I need,
http://example.com/sjskjfsk21
http://example.com/asfasfasf43sf
http://example.com/pdf/fhfdhdh3432aaf
http://example.com/pdf/aisfyiahm2faf3
http://example.com/browsepdf
http://example.com/browsepdf-1
http://example.com/browsepdf-2
http://example.com/download/fjaskfjalsk3rs
http://example.com/download/usaydiy7aisydi
http://example.com/sitemap.xml
Can anyone please fix the .htaccess file.

Answer 1

Here every url is pointing to "content.php?seourl=$1"
Because your first (generic) rule catches all the requests. You need to change the order so you have the most specific rules first, and the most generic (catch-all) rules at the end. In your case you just need to move the first rule to the end. For example:
RewriteRule ^pdf/([^/]*)$ content-single.php?seourl=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^browsepdf$ browse.php [L]
RewriteRule ^browsepdf-([^/]*)$ browse.php?page=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^download/([^/]*)$ download.php?pdf=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^sitemap\.xml$ xmlsitemap.php [L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*)$ content.php?seourl=$1 [L]
NB: I backslash-escaped the dot in sitemap.xml to match a literal dot, otherwise it matches any character.
even css, js and image files.
You can make an exception for these static resources at the beginning of your file, before the existing directives. For example:
RewriteRule \.(js|css|png|jpg|gif)$ - [L]
For any URL that ends in any of the stated file extensions then stop processing the current mod_rewrite rules.
Alternatively (although perhaps marginally less efficient), you can prevent processing of requests for files that exist. Again, this goes before your existing mod_rewrite directives. For example:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
However, this must now check every request for the existence of a file on the filesystem that maps to the request. (It could also be combined with the above rule if required.)
UPDATE: Bringing this together, we have:
# Exclude any existing files from being rewritten
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
# Specific rewrites
RewriteRule ^pdf/([^/]*)$ content-single.php?seourl=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^browsepdf$ browse.php [L]
RewriteRule ^browsepdf-([^/]*)$ browse.php?page=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^download/([^/]*)$ download.php?pdf=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^sitemap\.xml$ xmlsitemap.php [L]
# Any other requests for the form "/<anything>"
RewriteRule ^([^/]*)$ content.php?seourl=$1 [L]