htaccess modrewrite to rename directory for SEF - .htaccess

Question

I'm wanting to change directory /rooms to show the name /gear for SEF without having to go through and change the directory name in our script. Note: the directory "gear" does not exist.
For example I want to change:
site/private/rooms/new
to say
site/private/gear/new
My current htaccess says:
RewriteEngine ON
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \ /(.*)/rooms([^\ ]+)? [NC]
RewriteRule ^ /%1/gear%2 [L,R]
RewriteRule ^(.*)/gear(/.*)?$ /$1/rooms$2 [NC,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule .* index.php?/$0 [PT,L]
And it takes me exactly to the directory that I want site.com/gear/new
However, I get a 404 error. I believe because there is no content there? I even tried duplicating folder /rooms and renaming it /gear and I still get a 404.
When the code is:
RewriteEngine ON
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule .* index.php?/$0 [PT,L]
#RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?q=$1 [L,QSA]
It takes you to site/private/rooms/new and it displays the content with showing /index.php
Do you think this could be what's creating the problem? The reason why it won't show site.com/gear/new might be because it doesn't display the /index.php?

Answer 1

Try this
RewriteEngine ON
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \ /(.*)/rooms([^\ ]+)? [NC]
RewriteRule ^ /%1/gear%2 [L,R]
RewriteRule ^(.*)/gear(/.*)?$ /$1/rooms$2 [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule .* index.php?/$0 [PT,L]
Your rules don't match because
RewriteRule ^/rooms(.*)?$ /gear$1 [R]
The path never contains a leading slash (when using a RewriteRule in an .htaccess). Hence /rooms would never match.
Your rules ignore that the URL path starts with private. They match on rooms and gear as the first path directory instead.