There are lots of examples across the internet that use ModRewrite. We will provide such an
examample as well. However, what to do when ModRewrite is not available? We can use SetEnv
directive with combination with FilesMatch.
SetEnvIfNoCase user-agent "^BlackWidow" bad_bot=1
SetEnvIfNoCase user-agent "^Bot\ mailto:craftbot@yahoo.com" bad_bot=1
SetEnvIfNoCase user-agent "^ChinaClaw" bad_bot=1
SetEnvIfNoCase user-agent "^Custo" bad_bot=1
SetEnvIfNoCase user-agent "^DISCo" bad_bot=1
SetEnvIfNoCase user-agent "^Download\ Demon" bad_bot=1<FilesMatch "(.*)">
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from all
Deny from env=bad_bot
</FilesMatch>
How it works? If the string or regular expression matches the user-agent HTTP header it
sets the bad_bot environment variable. Then in the FilesMatch we tell the server to deny
access (show Forbidden page) to all users/bots that did match any of the strings above.
And of course here it is the ModRewrite based example:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Widow [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WWWOFFLE [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Xaldon\ WebSpider [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Zeus
RewriteRule ^.* - [F,L]
What it does? The RewriteCond looks for a string or regular expression that matches. In
case that there is a match it shows a Forbidden Error page.
