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This document refers to the 2.0 version of Apache httpd, which is no longer maintained.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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Apache Module mod_userdir

Description:	User-specific directories
Status:	Base
Module Identifier:	userdir_module
Source File:	mod_userdir.c

Summary

This module allows user-specific directories to be accessed using the http://example.com/~user/ syntax.

Directives

• UserDir

See also

• Mapping URLs to the Filesystem
• public_html tutorial

UserDir Directive

Description:	Location of the user-specific directories
Syntax:	UserDir directory-filename
Default:	UserDir public_html
Context:	server config, virtual host
Status:	Base
Module:	mod_userdir

The UserDir directive sets the real directory in a user's home directory to use when a request for a document for a user is received. Directory-filename is one of the following:

• The name of a directory or a pattern such as those shown below.
• The keyword disabled. This turns off all username-to-directory translations except those explicitly named with the enabled keyword (see below).
• The keyword disabled followed by a space-delimited list of usernames. Usernames that appear in such a list will never have directory translation performed, even if they appear in an enabled clause.
• The keyword enabled followed by a space-delimited list of usernames. These usernames will have directory translation performed even if a global disable is in effect, but not if they also appear in a disabled clause.

If neither the enabled nor the disabled keywords appear in the Userdir directive, the argument is treated as a filename pattern, and is used to turn the name into a directory specification. A request for http://www.foo.com/~bob/one/two.html will be translated to:

UserDir directive used	Translated path
UserDir public_html	~bob/public_html/one/two.html
UserDir /usr/web	/usr/web/bob/one/two.html
UserDir /home/*/www	/home/bob/www/one/two.html

The following directives will send redirects to the client:

UserDir directive used	Translated path
UserDir http://www.foo.com/users	http://www.foo.com/users/bob/one/two.html
UserDir http://www.foo.com/*/usr	http://www.foo.com/bob/usr/one/two.html
UserDir http://www.foo.com/~*/	http://www.foo.com/~bob/one/two.html

Additional examples:

To allow a few users to have UserDir directories, but not anyone else, use the following:

To allow most users to have UserDir directories, but deny this to a few, use the following:

It is also possible to specify alternative user directories. If you use a command like:

With a request for http://www.foo.com/~bob/one/two.html, will try to find the page at ~bob/public_html/one/two.html first, then /usr/web/bob/one/two.html, and finally it will send a redirect to http://www.foo.com/bob/one/two.html.

If you add a redirect, it must be the last alternative in the list. Apache cannot determine if the redirect succeeded or not, so if you have the redirect earlier in the list, that will always be the alternative that is used.

See also

• public_html tutorial