rewrite rules for apache 2 to use with angular js

Question

Obviously, there are a lot of mod rewrite discussions and answers all across the web. However, I am having a hard time grasping them. So I thought I would ask here.

Answer 1

Here's something to get you going (put this inside your /.htaccess file):

Options +FollowSymLinks
IndexIgnore */*
RewriteEngine on

# if a directory or a file exists, use it directly
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -s [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/api

# otherwise forward it to index.html 
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L]
RewriteRule ^app/. /app/index.html [NC,L]

NOTE: For newer Apache versions see also the next answer, which uses the much easier FallbackResource