Mobile Redirect using htaccess

I have a website called

www.website.org

I have a mobile website called

m.website.org

I want to use an htaccess to automatically redirect the main website URL to the mobile version..

However, there is a link on the mobile version that points back to the main website called

www.website.org?noredirect=true

When I click the logo on the home page of the actual website it links to

www.website.org

I don't want the user to be allowed back to mobile accidentally by clicking on the logo on the main page. How can I accomplish this via htaccess without JavaSCript.

If not I am open-minded to alternate options.

EDIT

I think I am currently going to use this for sensing mobile redirect via htaccess

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} android|avantgo|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge\ |maemo|midp|mmp|opera\ m(ob|in)i|palm(\ os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows\ (ce|phone)|xda|xiino [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^(1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a\ wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r\ |s\ )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1\ u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp(\ i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-|\ |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac(\ |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt(\ |\/)|klon|kpt\ |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg(\ g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|e\-|e\/|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(di|rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-|\ |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v\ )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v\ )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-|\ )|webc|whit|wi(g\ |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|xda(\-|2|g)|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-) [NC]
RewriteRule ^$ http://m.website.com [R,L]

Tim Stone's solution is on the right track, but his initial rewriterule and and his cookie name in the final condition are different, and you can not write and read a cookie in the same request.

Here is the finalized working code:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
# Check if this is the noredirect query string
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)m=0(&|$)
# Set a cookie, and skip the next rule
RewriteRule ^ - [CO=mredir:0:www.website.com]

# Check if this looks like a mobile device
# (You could add another [OR] to the second one and add in what you
#  had to check, but I believe most mobile devices should send at
#  least one of these headers)
RewriteCond %{HTTP:x-wap-profile} !^$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Profile}       !^$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "acs|alav|alca|amoi|audi|aste|avan|benq|bird|blac|blaz|brew|cell|cldc|cmd-" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "dang|doco|eric|hipt|inno|ipaq|java|jigs|kddi|keji|leno|lg-c|lg-d|lg-g|lge-" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT}  "maui|maxo|midp|mits|mmef|mobi|mot-|moto|mwbp|nec-|newt|noki|opwv" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "palm|pana|pant|pdxg|phil|play|pluc|port|prox|qtek|qwap|sage|sams|sany" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "sch-|sec-|send|seri|sgh-|shar|sie-|siem|smal|smar|sony|sph-|symb|t-mo" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "teli|tim-|tosh|tsm-|upg1|upsi|vk-v|voda|w3cs|wap-|wapa|wapi" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "wapp|wapr|webc|winw|winw|xda|xda-" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "up.browser|up.link|windowssce|iemobile|mini|mmp" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "symbian|midp|wap|phone|pocket|mobile|pda|psp" [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} !macintosh [NC]

# Check if we're not already on the mobile site
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}          !^m\.
# Can not read and write cookie in same request, must duplicate condition
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !(^|&)m=0(&|$) 

# Check to make sure we haven't set the cookie before
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE}        !^.*mredir=0.*$ [NC]

# Now redirect to the mobile site
RewriteRule ^ http://m.website.com [R,L]

I tested bits and pieces of the following, but not the complete rule set in its entirety, so if you run into trouble with it let me know and I'll dig around a bit more. However, assuming I got everything correct, you could try something like the following:

RewriteEngine On

# Check if this is the noredirect query string
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)noredirect=true(&|$)
# Set a cookie, and skip the next rule
RewriteRule ^ - [CO=mredir:0:%{HTTP_HOST},S]

# Check if this looks like a mobile device
# (You could add another [OR] to the second one and add in what you
#  had to check, but I believe most mobile devices should send at
#  least one of these headers)
RewriteCond %{HTTP:x-wap-profile} !^$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Profile}       !^$
# Check if we're not already on the mobile site
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}          !^m\.
# Check to make sure we haven't set the cookie before
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Cookie}        !\smredir=0(;|$)
# Now redirect to the mobile site
RewriteRule ^ http://m.example.org%{REQUEST_URI} [R,L]

I modified Tim Stone's solution even further. This allows the cookie to be in 2 states, 1 for mobile and 0 for full. When the mobile cookie is set to 0 even a mobile browser will go to the full site.

Here is the code:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteBase /
    RewriteEngine On

    # Check if mobile=1 is set and set cookie 'mobile' equal to 1
    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)mobile=1(&|$)
    RewriteRule ^ - [CO=mobile:1:%{HTTP_HOST}]

    # Check if mobile=0 is set and set cookie 'mobile' equal to 0
    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)mobile=0(&|$)
    RewriteRule ^ - [CO=mobile:0:%{HTTP_HOST}]

    # cookie can't be set and read in the same request so check
    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)mobile=0(&|$)
    RewriteRule ^ - [S=1]

    # Check if this looks like a mobile device
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:x-wap-profile} !^$ [OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "android|blackberry|ipad|iphone|ipod|iemobile|opera mobile|palmos|webos|googlebot-mobile" [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Profile}       !^$

    # Check if we're not already on the mobile site
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}          !^m\.
    # Check to make sure we haven't set the cookie before
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Cookie}        !\mobile=0(;|$)
    # Now redirect to the mobile site
    RewriteRule ^ http://m.example.com%{REQUEST_URI} [R,L]
</IfModule>

Thanks Tim Stone, naunu, and Kevin Bond, those answers really helped me. Here is my adaption of your code. I added the functionality to be redirected back to the desktop site from m.example.com in case the user does not visit the site with a mobile device. Additionally I added an environment variable to preserve http/https requests:

# Set an environment variable for http/https.
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} =on
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [env=ps:https]
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [env=ps:http]

# Check if m=1 is set and set cookie 'm' equal to 1.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)m=1(&|$)
RewriteRule ^ - [CO=m:1:example.com]

# Check if m=0 is set and set cookie 'm' equal to 0.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)m=0(&|$)
RewriteRule ^ - [CO=m:0:example.com]

# Cookie can't be set and read in the same request so check.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)m=0(&|$)
RewriteRule ^ - [S=1]

# Check if this looks like a mobile device.
RewriteCond %{HTTP:x-wap-profile} !^$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "android|blackberry|ipad|iphone|ipod|iemobile|opera mobile|palmos|webos|googlebot-mobile" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Profile} !^$
# Check if we're not already on the mobile site.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^m\.
# Check if cookie is not set to force desktop site.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !^.*m=0.*$ [NC]
# Now redirect to the mobile site preserving http or https.
RewriteRule ^ %{ENV:ps}://m.example.com%{REQUEST_URI} [R,L]

# Check if this looks like a desktop device.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "!(android|blackberry|ipad|iphone|ipod|iemobile|opera mobile|palmos|webos|googlebot-mobile)" [NC]
# Check if we're on the mobile site.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^m\.
# Check if cookie is not set to force mobile site.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !^.*m=1.*$ [NC]
# Now redirect to the mobile site preserving http or https.
RewriteRule ^ %{ENV:ps}://example.com%{REQUEST_URI} [R,L]

This seems to work fine except one thing: When I'm on the desktop site with a desktop device and I visit m.example.com/?m=1, I'm redirected to example.com. When I try again, I "stay" at m.example.com. It seems as if the cookie isn't set and/or read correctly the first time.

Maybe there is a better way to determine if the device is a desktop device, I just negated the device detection from above.

And I'm wondering if this way all mobile devices are detected. In Tim Stone's and naunu's code that part is much larger.

Similarly, if you wanted to redirect to a sub-folder instead of a sub-domain, do the following:

Working off of Kevin's great solution you can add this to the .htaccess file in your site's root directory:

	<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
	    RewriteBase /
	    RewriteEngine On

	    # Check if mobile=1 is set and set cookie 'mobile' equal to 1
	    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)mobile=1(&|$)
	    RewriteRule ^ - [CO=mobile:1:%{HTTP_HOST}]

	    # Check if mobile=0 is set and set cookie 'mobile' equal to 0
	    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)mobile=0(&|$)
	    RewriteRule ^ - [CO=mobile:0:%{HTTP_HOST}]

	    # cookie can't be set and read in the same request so check
	    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|&)mobile=0(&|$)
	    RewriteRule ^ - [S=1]

	    # Check if this looks like a mobile device
	    RewriteCond %{HTTP:x-wap-profile} !^$ [OR]
	    RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "android|blackberry|ipad|iphone|ipod|iemobile|opera mobile|palmos|webos|googlebot-mobile" [NC,OR]
	    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Profile}       !^$

	    # Check if we're not already on the mobile site
	    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}          !^m\.
	    # Check to make sure we haven't set the cookie before
	    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Cookie}        !\mobile=0(;|$)
	    # Now redirect to the mobile site
	    RewriteRule ^ http://www.mysite.com/m/ [R]
	</IfModule>

Then, in the /m/ folder, add or create an .htaccess with the following:

	#Begin user agent loop fix

	     RewriteEngine Off
	     RewriteBase /

	#End user agent loop fix 

I know it's not a direct answer to the question, but somebody (like me) might stumble upon this question and wonder how that method would be accomplished as well.

For Mobiles like domain.com/m/

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(.*).domain.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/m/.*$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "android|blackberry|iphone|ipod|iemobile|opera mobile|palmos|webos|googlebot-mobile" [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /m/ [L,R=302]

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>

  RewriteEngine On 

  # https forcefully redirection
  RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301,NE]
  Header always set Content-Security-Policy "upgrade-insecure-requests;"
  
  # redirect on mobile site or other domain
  RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !^desktop
  RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "android|blackberry|googlebot-mobile|iemobile|iphone|ipod|#opera mobile|palmos|webos" [NC]
  RewriteRule ^$ https://m.example.com/ [L,R=302]

</IfModule>

First, go to the following URL and download the mobile_detect.php file:

http://code.google.com/p/php-mobile-detect/

Insert the following code on your index or home page:

<?php
@include("Mobile_Detect.php");
$detect = new Mobile_Detect();
if ($detect->isMobile() && isset($_COOKIE['mobile']))
{
$detect = "false";
}
elseif ($detect->isMobile())
{
header("Location:http://www.yourmobiledirectory.com");
}
?>

You can also try this. Credits to the original author who has since removed the script

/mobile.class.php

<?php
/*
=====================================================
Mobile version detection
-----------------------------------------------------
compliments of http://www.buchfelder.biz/
=====================================================
*/

$mobile = "http://www.stepforth.mobi";
$text = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];
$var[0] = 'Mozilla/4.';
$var[1] = 'Mozilla/3.0';
$var[2] = 'AvantGo';
$var[3] = 'ProxiNet';
$var[4] = 'Danger hiptop 1.0';
$var[5] = 'DoCoMo/';
$var[6] = 'Google CHTML Proxy/';
$var[7] = 'UP.Browser/';
$var[8] = 'SEMC-Browser/';
$var[9] = 'J-PHONE/';
$var[10] = 'PDXGW/';
$var[11] = 'ASTEL/';
$var[12] = 'Mozilla/1.22';
$var[13] = 'Handspring';
$var[14] = 'Windows CE';
$var[15] = 'PPC';
$var[16] = 'Mozilla/2.0';
$var[17] = 'Blazer/';
$var[18] = 'Palm';
$var[19] = 'WebPro/';
$var[20] = 'EPOC32-WTL/';
$var[21] = 'Tungsten';
$var[22] = 'Netfront/';
$var[23] = 'Mobile Content Viewer/';
$var[24] = 'PDA';
$var[25] = 'MMP/2.0';
$var[26] = 'Embedix/';
$var[27] = 'Qtopia/';
$var[28] = 'Xiino/';
$var[29] = 'BlackBerry';
$var[30] = 'Gecko/20031007';
$var[31] = 'MOT-';
$var[32] = 'UP.Link/';
$var[33] = 'Smartphone';
$var[34] = 'portalmmm/';
$var[35] = 'Nokia';
$var[36] = 'Symbian';
$var[37] = 'AppleWebKit/413';
$var[38] = 'UPG1 UP/';
$var[39] = 'RegKing';
$var[40] = 'STNC-WTL/';
$var[41] = 'J2ME';
$var[42] = 'Opera Mini/';
$var[43] = 'SEC-';
$var[44] = 'ReqwirelessWeb/';
$var[45] = 'AU-MIC/';
$var[46] = 'Sharp';
$var[47] = 'SIE-';
$var[48] = 'SonyEricsson';
$var[49] = 'Elaine/';
$var[50] = 'SAMSUNG-';
$var[51] = 'Panasonic';
$var[52] = 'Siemens';
$var[53] = 'Sony';
$var[54] = 'Verizon';
$var[55] = 'Cingular';
$var[56] = 'Sprint';
$var[57] = 'AT&T;';
$var[58] = 'Nextel';
$var[59] = 'Pocket PC';
$var[60] = 'T-Mobile';    
$var[61] = 'Orange';
$var[62] = 'Casio';
$var[63] = 'HTC';
$var[64] = 'Motorola';
$var[65] = 'Samsung';
$var[66] = 'NEC';

$result = count($var);

for ($i=0;$i<$result;$i++)
{    
    $ausg = stristr($text, $var[$i]);    
    if(strlen($ausg)>0)
    {
        header("location: $mobile");
        exit;
    }
    
}
?>

Just edit the $mobile = "http://www.stepforth.mobi";

Or you may try this:

?php

/**
* Mobile Detect
* @license    http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php The MIT License
*/
class Mobile_Detect
{
    protected $accept;
    protected $userAgent;
    protected $isMobile = false;
    protected $isAndroid = null;
    protected $isAndroidtablet = null;
    protected $isIphone = null;
    protected $isIpad = null;
    protected $isBlackberry = null;
    protected $isBlackberrytablet = null;
    protected $isOpera = null;
    protected $isPalm = null;
    protected $isWindows = null;
    protected $isWindowsphone = null;
    protected $isGeneric = null;
    protected $devices = array(
    "android" => "android.*mobile",
    "androidtablet" => "android(?!.*mobile)",
    "blackberry" => "blackberry",
    "blackberrytablet" => "rim tablet os",
    "iphone" => "(iphone|ipod)",
    "ipad" => "(ipad)",
    "palm" => "(avantgo|blazer|elaine|hiptop|palm|plucker|xiino)",
    "windows" => "windows ce; (iemobile|ppc|smartphone)",
    "windowsphone" => "windows phone os",
    "generic" => "(kindle|mobile|mmp|midp|pocket|psp|symbian|smartphone|treo|up.browser|up.link|vodafone|wap|opera mini)");

    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->userAgent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];
        $this->accept = $_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT'];

        if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_WAP_PROFILE']) || isset($_SERVER['HTTP_PROFILE']))
        {
            $this->isMobile = true;
        }
        elseif (strpos($this->accept, 'text/vnd.wap.wml') > 0 || strpos($this->accept, 'application/vnd.wap.xhtml+xml') > 0)
        {
            $this->isMobile = true;
        }
        else
        {
            foreach ($this->devices as $device => $regexp)
            {
                if ($this->isDevice($device))
                {
                    $this->isMobile = true;
                }
            }
        }
    }

    /**
    * Overloads isAndroid() | isAndroidtablet() | isIphone() | isIpad() | isBlackberry() | isBlackberrytablet() | isPalm() | isWindowsphone() | isWindows() | isGeneric() through isDevice()
    *
    * @param string $name
    * @param array $arguments
    * @return bool
    */
    public function __call($name, $arguments)
    {
        $device = substr($name, 2);
        if ($name == "is" . ucfirst($device) && array_key_exists(strtolower($device), $this->devices))
        {
            return $this->isDevice($device);
        } 
        else
        {
            trigger_error("Method $name not defined", E_USER_WARNING);
        }
    }

    /**
    * Returns true if any type of mobile device detected, including special ones
    * @return bool
    */
    public function isMobile()
    {
        return $this->isMobile;
    }

    protected function isDevice($device)
    {
        $var = "is" . ucfirst($device);
        $return = $this->$var === null ? (bool) preg_match("/" . $this->devices[strtolower($device)] . "/i", $this->userAgent) : $this->$var;
        if ($device != 'generic' && $return == true) {
        $this->isGeneric = false;
    }
    return $return;
}