What is the difference between the two rewrite rules in htaccess?

[esiow2013]

Force www. prefix in URLs and redirect non-www to www

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

Force www. prefix in URLs and redirect non-www to www - 2nd option

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

[crackingmedia]

Hi, as mentioned in the other answer I gave here: http://moz.com/community/q/where-is-the-rule-here-that-force-www-in-urls#reply_202351

the first checks for non-inclusion of the www in the URL (the !^www checks if www is not included at the start of the URL being tested), the second checks for a URL that starts with just the domain.

Peter

[Burto]

So in theory they are identical?

Just different ways of achieving the same result

[crackingmedia]

Yes, the result is identical.

Peter

[esiow2013]

Thanks Peter!