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<title>Terms Used to Describe Directives</title>

<summary>

<p>This document describes the terms that are used to describe

each Apache <a href="directives.html">configuration

directive</a>.</p>

</summary>

<seealso><a href="/configuring.html">Configuration files</a></seealso>

<section id="Description"><title>Description</title>

<p>A brief description of the purpose of the directive.</p>

</section>

<section id="Syntax"><title>Syntax</title>

<p>This indicates the format of the directive as it would

appear in a configuration file. This syntax is extremely

directive-specific, and is described in detail in the

directive's definition. Generally, the directive name is

followed by a series of one or more space-separated arguments.

If an argument contains a space, the argument must be enclosed

in double quotes. Optional arguments are enclosed in square

brackets. Where an argument can take on more than one possible

value, the possible values are separated by vertical bars "|".

Literal text is presented in the default font, while

argument-types for which substitution is necessary are

<em>emphasized</em>. Directives which can take a variable

number of arguments will end in "..." indicating that the last

argument is repeated.</p>

<p>Directives use a great number of different argument types. A

few common ones are defined below.</p>

<dl>

<dt><em>URL</em></dt>

<dd>A complete Uniform Resource Locator including a scheme,

hostname, and optional pathname as in

<code>http://www.example.com/path/to/file.html</code></dd>

<dt><em>URL-path</em></dt>

<dd>The part of a <em>url</em> which follows the scheme and

hostname as in <code>/path/to/file.html</code>. The

<em>url-path</em> represents a web-view of a resource, as

opposed to a file-system view.</dd>

<dt><em>file-path</em></dt>

<dd>The path to a file in the local file-system beginning

with the root directory as in

<code>/usr/local/apache/htdocs/path/to/file.html</code>.

Unless otherwise specified, a <em>file-path</em> which does

not begin with a slash will be treated as relative to the <a

href="core.html#serverroot">ServerRoot</a>.</dd>

<dt><em>directory-path</em></dt>

<dd>The path to a directory in the local file-system

beginning with the root directory as in

<code>/usr/local/apache/htdocs/path/to/</code>.</dd>

<dt><em>filename</em></dt>

<dd>The name of a file with no accompanying path information

as in <code>file.html</code>.</dd>

<dt><em>regex</em></dt>

<dd>A regular expression, which is a way of describing a

pattern to match in text. The directive definition will

specify what the <em>regex</em> is matching against.</dd>

<dt><em>extension</em></dt>

<dd>In general, this is the part of the <em>filename</em>

which follows the last dot. However, Apache recognizes

multiple filename extensions, so if a <em>filename</em>

contains more than one dot, each dot-separated part of the

filename following the first dot is an <em>extension</em>.

For example, the <em>filename</em> <code>file.html.en</code>

contains two extensions: <code>.html</code> and

<code>.en</code>. For Apache directives, you may specify

<em>extension</em>s with or without the leading dot. In

addition, <em>extension</em>s are not case sensitive.</dd>

<dt><em>MIME-type</em></dt>

<dd>A method of describing the format of a file which

consists of a major format type and a minor format type,

separated by a slash as in <code>text/html</code>.</dd>

<dt><em>env-variable</em></dt>

<dd>The name of an <a href="/env.html">environment

variable</a> defined in the Apache configuration process.

Note this is not necessarily the same as an operating system

environment variable. See the <a

href="/env.html">environment variable documentation</a> for

more details.</dd>

</dl>

</section>

<section id="Default"><title>Default</title>

<p>If the directive has a default value (<em>i.e.</em>, if you

omit it from your configuration entirely, the Apache Web server

will behave as though you set it to a particular value), it is

described here. If there is no default value, this section

should say "<em>None</em>". Note that the default listed here

is not necessarily the same as the value the directive takes in

the default httpd.conf distributed with the server.</p>

</section>

<section id="Context"><title>Context</title>

<p>This indicates where in the server's configuration files the

directive is legal. It's a comma-separated list of one or more

of the following values:</p>

<dl>

<dt>server config</dt>

<dd>This means that the directive may be used in the server

configuration files (<em>e.g.</em>, <code>httpd.conf</code>), but

<strong>not</strong> within any

<directive module="core" type="section">VirtualHost</directive>

or <directive module="core" type="section">Directory</directive>

containers. It is not allowed in <code>.htaccess</code> files

at all.</dd>

<dt>virtual host</dt>

<dd>This context means that the directive may appear inside

<directive module="core" type="section">VirtualHost</directive>

containers in the server

configuration files.</dd>

<dt>directory</dt>

<dd>A directive marked as being valid in this context may be

used inside <directive module="core"

type="section">Directory</directive>, <directive type="section"

module="core">Location</directive>, <directive module="core"

type="section">Files</directive>, and <directive

module="mod_proxy" type="section">Proxy</directive> containers

in the server configuration files, subject to the restrictions

outlined in <a href="/sections.html">Configuration

Sections</a>.</dd>

<dt>.htaccess</dt>

<dd>If a directive is valid in this context, it means that it

can appear inside <em>per</em>-directory

<code>.htaccess</code> files. It may not be processed, though

depending upon the <a href="#Override"

>overrides</a> currently active.</dd>

</dl>

<p>The directive is <em>only</em> allowed within the designated

context; if you try to use it elsewhere, you'll get a

configuration error that will either prevent the server from

handling requests in that context correctly, or will keep the

server from operating at all -- <em>i.e.</em>, the server won't

even start.</p>

<p>The valid locations for the directive are actually the

result of a Boolean OR of all of the listed contexts. In other

words, a directive that is marked as being valid in

"<code>server config, .htaccess</code>" can be used in the

<code>httpd.conf</code> file and in <code>.htaccess</code>

files, but not within any <directive module="core"

type="section">Directory</directive> or

<directive module="core" type="section">VirtualHost</directive>

containers.</p>

</section>

<section id="Override"><title>Override</title>

<p>This directive attribute indicates which configuration

override must be active in order for the directive to be

processed when it appears in a <code>.htaccess</code> file. If

the directive's <a href="#Context" >context</a>

doesn't permit it to appear in <code>.htaccess</code> files,

then no context will be listed.</p>

<p>Overrides are activated by the <directive

module="core">AllowOverride</directive> directive, and apply

to a particular scope (such as a directory) and all

descendants, unless further modified by other

<directive module="core">AllowOverride</directive> directives at

lower levels. The documentation for that directive also lists the

possible override names available.</p>

</section>

<section id="Status"><title>Status</title>

<p>This indicates how tightly bound into the Apache Web server

the directive is; in other words, you may need to recompile the

server with an enhanced set of modules in order to gain access

to the directive and its functionality. Possible values for

this attribute are:</p>

<dl>

<dt>Core</dt>

<dd>If a directive is listed as having "Core" status, that

means it is part of the innermost portions of the Apache Web

server, and is always available.</dd>

<dt>MPM</dt>

<dd>A directive labeled as having "MPM" status is provided by

a <a href="/mpm.html">Multi-Processing Module</a>. This

type of directive will be available if and only if you are

using one of the MPMs listed on the <a

href="#Module">Module</a> line of the directive

definition.</dd>

<dt>Base</dt>

<dd>A directive labeled as having "Base" status is supported

by one of the standard Apache modules which is compiled into

the server by default, and is therefore normally available

unless you've taken steps to remove the module from your

configuration.</dd>

<dt>Extension</dt>

<dd>A directive with "Extension" status is provided by one of

the modules included with the Apache server kit, but the

module isn't normally compiled into the server. To enable the

directive and its functionality, you will need to change the

server build configuration files and re-compile Apache.</dd>

<dt>Experimental</dt>

<dd>"Experimental" status indicates that the directive is

available as part of the Apache kit, but you're on your own

if you try to use it. The directive is being documented for

completeness, and is not necessarily supported. The module

which provides the directive may or may not be compiled in by

default; check the top of the page which describes the

directive and its module to see if it remarks on the

availability.</dd>

</dl>

</section>

<section id="Module"><title>Module</title>

<p>This quite simply lists the name of the source module which

defines the directive.</p>

</section>

<section id="Compatibility"><title>Compatibility</title>

<p>If the directive wasn't part of the original Apache version

2 distribution, the version in which it was introduced should

be listed here. In addition, if the directive is available

only on certain platforms, it will be noted here.</p>

</section>

</manualpage>