.htaccess and mod_rewrite

[inertia]

I am trying to get to grips with .htaccess and mod_rewrite but i am lacking experience in this area so please go easy on me.

Im tryin to setup two 301s for a customer. The first solves the "domain.com" redirecting to "www.domain.com" issue. I added an .htaccess file to the ht_docs directory with coding that looked like this:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^customerdomain.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.customerdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

But! This didnt work, when i go to the domain without "www" it is supposed to redirect to the with "www" domain, yes? Can any offer help as to why?

I have also tried to place a 301 redirect from a page - www.customerdomain.com/home.htm to redirect to www.customerdomain.com/. I used the following code in the .htaccess file:

redirect 301 home.htm http://customerdomain.com/

But! This didnt work either! Any help pleeeease!!!!!????

[kgun]

Apache Tutorial: .htaccess files

If that is not enough, Google:

".htaccess tutorial"

[inertia]

There is a lot of literature online that ive been reading over the last few weeks. I have taken example coding from these articles and added my own URLs but the redirect still doesnt work. Is there something fundamental which im missing?

[kgun]

Sometimes it can be done in the Cpanel or whatever panel you have. If that is not possible, reread the tutorials above.

Have you tried this more specific search:

mod_rewrite site:www dot apache dot org

Here is one hit: ApacheModProxy

Scroll down to the heading:

A more complex example: mod rewrite