%2520 (Double space) in URL for URL with spaces - .htaccess

Question

My URL structure is like
http://www.example.com/folder/index.php?dir=dir1
To be able to access it from
http://www.example.com/folder/dir1
and at the same time redirect the 1st URL to 2nd one, my htaccess (in 'folder') is
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /folder
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} 200
RewriteRule .* - [L]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^dir=(.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1? [L,R=301]
RewriteRule ^(.+)/? index.php?dir=$1 [L,QSA]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?dir=$1 [L,QSA]
The trouble is that if any directory name in URL contains a 'space', the URL shows %2520 instead of the 'space'.Please advice in modifying the htaccess so it shows %20 or preferrably a simple 'space'?

Answer 1

try adding a NE on the redirect ie
RewriteRule ^ %1? [L,R=301,NE]
EDIT
Since you've read my htaccess, do you see any possiblity of shortening it further
Below are a couple of comments
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /folder
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} 200
RewriteRule .* - [L]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^dir=(.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1? [L,R=301]
#this looks redundant with last rule, and could be deleted?
RewriteRule ^(.+)/? index.php?dir=$1 [L,QSA]
#this says if not an existing file
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
#and this says if it IS an existing directory
#Is this what you wanted, or should it be not an existing directory i.e
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d instead
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?dir=$1 [L,QSA]