[html] 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]

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");
}
?>

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.

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>

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]

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;
}

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.