I created a test directory called "rewrite" and put a
.htaccess file inside with a rewrite rule.
When I go to that URL through my browser I get a 500 Internal Server Error.
So I thought it was my rewrite syntax and tried a few changes, same thing. Then I commented out everything with # on each line. Same thing.
Then I noticed that the directory doesn't show up in its parent directory (which has no index file).
So then I tried changing the filename to
.htaccess_bad, and the directory shows up.
Then I changed it back to .htaccess and emptied the file, so it a blank file. The directory still shows up.
Finally I added a single # to the .htaccess file, and viola, the directory disappears again.
I though the issue might be that the parent directory has a .htaccess file with a [R] flag on its rewrite rule, but removing that didn't fix the issue.
Any help on what to try next or why this is happening?
Even having a line break is causing issues. (so it has to be truly empty it seems).