1 unless file exists will rewrite to index.php
Add the following to your location ~ \.php$
try_files = $uri @missing;
this will first try to serve the file and if it's not found it will move to the @missing part. so also add the following to your config (outside the location block), this will redirect to your index page
location @missing {
rewrite ^ $scheme://$host/index.php permanent;
}
2 on the urls you never see the file extension (.php)
to remove the php extension read the following: http://www.nullis.net/weblog/2011/05/nginx-rewrite-remove-file-extension/
and the example configuration from the link:
location / {
set $page_to_view "/index.php";
try_files $uri $uri/ @rewrites;
root /var/www/site;
index index.php index.html index.htm;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /var/www/site$page_to_view;
}
# rewrites
location @rewrites {
if ($uri ~* ^/([a-z]+)$) {
set $page_to_view "/$1.php";
rewrite ^/([a-z]+)$ /$1.php last;
}
}