Apache HTTP Server Version 2.0
Apache HTTP Server Version 2.0
This document refers to the 2.0 version of Apache httpd, which is no longer maintained. Upgrade, and refer to the current version of httpd instead, documented at:
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| Description: | Generates directory indexes,
automatically, similar to the Unix ls command or the
Win32 dir shell command |
|---|---|
| Status: | Base |
| Module Identifier: | autoindex_module |
| Source File: | mod_autoindex.c |
The index of a directory can come from one of two sources:
index.html. The DirectoryIndex directive sets the
name of this file. This is controlled by
mod_dir.AddIcon, AddIconByEncoding and
AddIconByType are
used to set a list of icons to display for various file types;
for each file listed, the first icon listed that matches the
file is displayed. These are controlled by
mod_autoindex.The two functions are separated so that you can completely remove (or replace) automatic index generation should you want to.
Automatic index generation is enabled with using
Options +Indexes. See the
Options directive for
more details.
If the FancyIndexing option is given with the IndexOptions directive,
the column headers are links that control the order of the
display. If you select a header link, the listing will be
regenerated, sorted by the values in that column. Selecting the
same header repeatedly toggles between ascending and descending
order. These column header links are suppressed with
IndexOptions directive's
SuppressColumnSorting option.
Note that when the display is sorted by "Size", it's the actual size of the files that's used, not the displayed value - so a 1010-byte file will always be displayed before a 1011-byte file (if in ascending order) even though they both are shown as "1K".
AddAlt AddAltByEncoding AddAltByType AddDescription AddIcon AddIconByEncoding AddIconByType DefaultIcon HeaderName IndexIgnore IndexOptions IndexOrderDefault ReadmeName
Apache 2.0.23 reorganized the Query Arguments for Column
Sorting, and introduced an entire group of new query options.
To effectively eliminate all client control over the output,
the IndexOptions
IgnoreClient option was introduced.
The column sorting headers themselves are self-referencing hyperlinks that add the sort query options shown below. Any option below may be added to any request for the directory resource.
C=N sorts the directory by file nameC=M sorts the directory by last-modified
date, then file nameC=S sorts the directory by size, then file
nameC=D sorts the directory by description, then
file nameO=A sorts the listing in Ascending
OrderO=D sorts the listing in Descending
OrderF=0 formats the listing as a simple list
(not FancyIndexed)F=1 formats the listing as a FancyIndexed
listF=2 formats the listing as an
HTMLTable FancyIndexed listV=0 disables version sortingV=1 enables version sortingP=pattern lists only files matching
the given patternNote that the 'P'attern query argument is tested
after the usual IndexIgnore directives are processed,
and all file names are still subjected to the same criteria as
any other autoindex listing. The Query Arguments parser in
mod_autoindex will stop abruptly when an unrecognized
option is encountered. The Query Arguments must be well formed,
according to the table above.
The simple example below, which can be clipped and saved in a header.html file, illustrates these query options. Note that the unknown "X" argument, for the submit button, is listed last to assure the arguments are all parsed before mod_autoindex encounters the X=Go input.
<form action="" method="get">
Show me a <select name="F">
<option value="0"> Plain list</option>
<option value="1" selected="selected"> Fancy list</option>
<option value="2"> Table list</option>
</select>
Sorted by <select name="C">
<option value="N" selected="selected"> Name</option>
<option value="M"> Date Modified</option>
<option value="S"> Size</option>
<option value="D"> Description</option>
</select>
<select name="O">
<option value="A" selected="selected"> Ascending</option>
<option value="D"> Descending</option>
</select>
<select name="V">
<option value="0" selected="selected"> in Normal order</option>
<option value="1"> in Version order</option>
</select>
Matching <input type="text" name="P" value="*" />
<input type="submit" name="X" value="Go" />
</form>
| Description: | Alternate text to display for a file, instead of an icon selected by filename |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | AddAlt string file [file] ... |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
AddAlt provides the alternate text to
display for a file, instead of an icon, for FancyIndexing.
File is a file extension, partial filename, wild-card
expression or full filename for files to describe.
If String contains any whitespace, you have to enclose it
in quotes (" or '). This alternate text
is displayed if the client is image-incapable, has image loading
disabled, or fails to retrieve the icon.
AddAlt "PDF file" *.pdf
AddAlt Compressed *.gz *.zip *.Z
| Description: | Alternate text to display for a file instead of an icon selected by MIME-encoding |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | AddAltByEncoding string MIME-encoding
[MIME-encoding] ... |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
AddAltByEncoding provides the alternate
text to display for a file, instead of an icon, for FancyIndexing.
MIME-encoding is a valid content-encoding, such as
x-compress. If String contains any whitespace,
you have to enclose it in quotes (" or ').
This alternate text is displayed if the client is image-incapable,
has image loading disabled, or fails to retrieve the icon.
AddAltByEncoding gzip x-gzip
| Description: | Alternate text to display for a file, instead of an icon selected by MIME content-type |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | AddAltByType string MIME-type
[MIME-type] ... |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
AddAltByType sets the alternate text to
display for a file, instead of an icon, for FancyIndexing.
MIME-type is a valid content-type, such as
text/html. If String contains any whitespace,
you have to enclose it in quotes (" or ').
This alternate text is displayed if the client is image-incapable,
has image loading disabled, or fails to retrieve the icon.
AddAltByType 'plain text' text/plain
| Description: | Description to display for a file |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | AddDescription string file [file] ... |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
This sets the description to display for a file, for
FancyIndexing.
File is a file extension, partial filename, wild-card
expression or full filename for files to describe.
String is enclosed in double quotes (").
AddDescription "The planet Mars" /web/pics/mars.gif
The typical, default description field is 23 bytes wide. 6
more bytes are added by the IndexOptions SuppressIcon option, 7 bytes are
added by the IndexOptions SuppressSize option, and 19 bytes are
added by the IndexOptions SuppressLastModified option.
Therefore, the widest default the description column is ever
assigned is 55 bytes.
See the DescriptionWidth IndexOptions keyword for details on overriding the size
of this column, or allowing descriptions of unlimited length.
Descriptive text defined with AddDescription
may contain HTML markup, such as tags and character entities. If the
width of the description column should happen to truncate a tagged
element (such as cutting off the end of a bolded phrase), the
results may affect the rest of the directory listing.
| Description: | Icon to display for a file selected by name |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | AddIcon icon name [name]
... |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
This sets the icon to display next to a file ending in
name for FancyIndexing. Icon is either a (%-escaped)
relative URL to the icon, a fully qualified remote URL, or of the format
(alttext,url) where alttext
is the text tag given for an icon for non-graphical browsers.
Name is either ^^DIRECTORY^^ for directories,
^^BLANKICON^^ for blank lines (to format the list
correctly), a file extension, a wildcard expression, a partial
filename or a complete filename.
^^BLANKICON^^ is only used for formatting, and so
is unnecessary if you're using IndexOptions
HTMLTable.
AddIcon (IMG,/icons/image.xbm) .gif .jpg .xbm
AddIcon /icons/dir.xbm ^^DIRECTORY^^
AddIcon /icons/backup.xbm *~
AddIconByType
should be used in preference to AddIcon,
when possible.
| Description: | Icon to display next to files selected by MIME content-encoding |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | AddIconByEncoding icon MIME-encoding
[MIME-encoding] ... |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
This sets the icon to display next to files with FancyIndexing.
Icon is either a (%-escaped) relative URL to the icon,
a fully qualified remote URL,
or of the format (alttext,url)
where alttext is the text tag given for an icon for
non-graphical browsers.
MIME-encoding is a wildcard expression matching required the content-encoding.
AddIconByEncoding /icons/compress.xbm x-compress
| Description: | Icon to display next to files selected by MIME content-type |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | AddIconByType icon MIME-type
[MIME-type] ... |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
This sets the icon to display next to files of type
MIME-type for FancyIndexing.
Icon is either a (%-escaped) relative URL to the icon,
a fully qualified remote URL,
or of the format (alttext,url)
where alttext is the text tag given for an icon for
non-graphical browsers.
MIME-type is a wildcard expression matching required the mime types.
AddIconByType (IMG,/icons/image.xbm) image/*
| Description: | Icon to display for files when no specific icon is configured |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | DefaultIcon url-path |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
The DefaultIcon directive sets the icon
to display for files when no specific icon is known, for FancyIndexing.
Url-path is a (%-escaped) relative URL to the icon,
or a fully qualified remote URL.
DefaultIcon /icon/unknown.xbm
| Description: | Name of the file that will be inserted at the top of the index listing |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | HeaderName filename |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
The HeaderName directive sets the name
of the file that will be inserted at the top of the index
listing. Filename is the name of the file to include.
HeaderName HEADER.html
Both HeaderName and ReadmeName now treat
Filename as a URI path relative to the one used to
access the directory being indexed. If Filename begins
with a slash, it will be taken to be relative to the DocumentRoot.
HeaderName /include/HEADER.html
Filename must resolve to a document with a major
content type of text/* (e.g.,
text/html, text/plain, etc.). This means
that filename may refer to a CGI script if the script's
actual file type (as opposed to its output) is marked as
text/html such as with a directive like:
AddType text/html .cgi
Content negotiation
will be performed if Options
MultiViews is in effect. If filename resolves
to a static text/html document (not a CGI script) and
either one of the options
Includes or IncludesNOEXEC is enabled,
the file will be processed for server-side includes (see the
mod_include documentation).
If the file specified by HeaderName contains
the beginnings of an HTML document (<html>, <head>, etc.)
then you will probably want to set IndexOptions
+SuppressHTMLPreamble, so that these tags are not
repeated.
| Description: | Adds to the list of files to hide when listing a directory |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | IndexIgnore file [file] ... |
| Default: | IndexIgnore "." |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
The IndexIgnore directive adds to the
list of files to hide when listing a directory. File is a
shell-style wildcard expression or full
filename. Multiple IndexIgnore directives add
to the list, rather than the replacing the list of ignored
files. By default, the list contains . (the current
directory).
IndexIgnore .??* *~ *# HEADER* README* RCS CVS *,v *,t
| Description: | Various configuration settings for directory indexing |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | IndexOptions [+|-]option [[+|-]option]
... |
| Default: | By default, no options are enabled. |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
The IndexOptions directive specifies the
behavior of the directory indexing. Option can be one
of
Charset keyword allows you to
specify the character set of the generated page. The
default is either ISO-8859-1 or UTF-8,
depending on whether the underlying file system is unicode
or not.
IndexOptions Charset=UTF-8
Type keyword allows you to
specify the MIME content-type of the generated page. The default
is text/html.
IndexOptions Type=text/plain
DescriptionWidth keyword allows you to
specify the width of the description column in
characters.-DescriptionWidth (or unset) allows
mod_autoindex to calculate the best width.DescriptionWidth=n fixes the column width to
n bytes wide.DescriptionWidth=* grows the column to the
width necessary to accommodate the longest description
string.AddDescription for dangers
inherent in truncating descriptions.FoldersFirst is enabled, subdirectory
Zed will be listed before subdirectory
Beta, which will be listed before normal files
Gamma and Alpha. This option
only has an effect if FancyIndexing is also enabled.FancyIndexing
constructs a simple table for the fancy directory listing. Note this
will confuse older browsers. It is particularly necessary if file
names or description text will alternate between
left-to-right and right-to-left reading order, as can happen
on WinNT or other utf-8 enabled platforms.IconWidth,
will cause the server to include height and
width attributes in the img tag for the
file icon. This allows browser to precalculate the page layout
without having to wait until all the images have been loaded. If no
value is given for the option, it defaults to the standard height of
the icons supplied with the Apache software.IconHeight,
will cause the server to include height and
width attributes in the img tag for
the file icon. This allows browser to precalculate the page
layout without having to wait until all the images have been
loaded. If no value is given for the option, it defaults to
the standard width of the icons supplied with the Apache
software.IgnoreCase is enabled, file Zeta will be listed after
file alfa (Note: file GAMMA will always be listed before file gamma).
mod_autoindex to ignore all
query variables from the client, including sort order (implies
SuppressColumnSorting.)NameWidth keyword allows you to specify the width
of the filename column in bytes.-NameWidth (or unset) allows mod_autoindex to calculate the best width.NameWidth=n fixes the column width to
n bytes wide.NameWidth=* grows the column to the necessary
width.AddDescription
then httpd will read the document for the value of the
title element. This is CPU and disk intensive.IndexOptions
IgnoreClient in Apache 2.0.23.AddDescription for information about setting the file
description. See also the DescriptionWidth
index option to limit the size of the description column.HeaderName
directive, the module usually includes the contents of the file
after a standard HTML preamble (<html>,
<head>, et cetera). The
SuppressHTMLPreamble option disables this behaviour,
causing the module to start the display with the header file
contents. The header file must contain appropriate HTML instructions
in this case. If there is no header file, the preamble is generated
as usual.SuppressIcon and
SuppressRules yields proper HTML 3.2 output, which
by the final specification prohibits img and
hr elements from the pre block (used to
format FancyIndexed listings.)hr
elements) in directory listings. Combining both SuppressIcon and
SuppressRules yields proper HTML 3.2 output, which
by the final specification prohibits img and
hr elements from the pre block (used to
format FancyIndexed listings.)Last-Modified and ETag
values for the listed directory in the HTTP header. It is only valid
if the operating system and file system return appropriate stat()
results. Some Unix systems do so, as do OS2's JFS and Win32's
NTFS volumes. OS2 and Win32 FAT volumes, for example, do not.
Once this feature is enabled, the client or proxy can track
changes to the list of files when they perform a HEAD
request. Note some operating systems correctly track new and
removed files, but do not track changes for sizes or dates of
the files within the directory. Changes to the size
or date stamp of an existing file will not update the
Last-Modified header on all Unix platforms.
If this is a concern, leave this option disabled.VersionSort keyword causes files containing
version numbers to sort in a natural way. Strings are sorted as
usual, except that substrings of digits in the name and
description are compared according to their numeric value.
foo-1.7
foo-1.7.2
foo-1.7.12
foo-1.8.2
foo-1.8.2a
foo-1.12
If the number starts with a zero, then it is considered to be a fraction:
foo-1.001
foo-1.002
foo-1.030
foo-1.04
XHTML keyword forces mod_autoindex
to emit XHTML 1.0 code instead of HTML 3.2.Apache 1.3.3 introduced some significant changes in the
handling of IndexOptions directives. In
particular:
IndexOptions directives for a
single directory are now merged together. The result of:
<Directory /foo>
IndexOptions HTMLTable
IndexOptions SuppressColumnsorting
</Directory>
will be the equivalent of
IndexOptions HTMLTable SuppressColumnsorting
+ or -).Whenever a '+' or '-' prefixed keyword is encountered, it
is applied to the current IndexOptions
settings (which may have been inherited from an upper-level
directory). However, whenever an unprefixed keyword is processed, it
clears all inherited options and any incremental settings encountered
so far. Consider the following example:
IndexOptions +ScanHTMLTitles -IconsAreLinks FancyIndexing
IndexOptions +SuppressSize
The net effect is equivalent to IndexOptions FancyIndexing
+SuppressSize, because the unprefixed FancyIndexing
discarded the incremental keywords before it, but allowed them to
start accumulating again afterward.
To unconditionally set the IndexOptions for
a particular directory, clearing the inherited settings, specify
keywords without any + or - prefixes.
| Description: | Sets the default ordering of the directory index |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | IndexOrderDefault Ascending|Descending
Name|Date|Size|Description |
| Default: | IndexOrderDefault Ascending Name |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
The IndexOrderDefault directive is used
in combination with the FancyIndexing index option. By default, fancyindexed
directory listings are displayed in ascending order by filename; the
IndexOrderDefault allows you to change this
initial display order.
IndexOrderDefault takes two
arguments. The first must be either Ascending or
Descending, indicating the direction of the sort.
The second argument must be one of the keywords Name,
Date, Size, or Description,
and identifies the primary key. The secondary key is
always the ascending filename.
You can, if desired, prevent the client from reordering the list
by also adding the SuppressColumnSorting
index option to remove the sort link from the top of the column,
along with the IgnoreClient index
option to prevent them from manually adding sort options to the
query string in order to override your ordering preferences.
| Description: | Name of the file that will be inserted at the end of the index listing |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | ReadmeName filename |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
The ReadmeName directive sets the name
of the file that will be appended to the end of the index
listing. Filename is the name of the file to include, and
is taken to be relative to the location being indexed. If
Filename begins with a slash, it will be taken to be
relative to the DocumentRoot.
ReadmeName FOOTER.html
ReadmeName /include/FOOTER.html
See also HeaderName, where this behavior is described in greater
detail.