After rewriting URL page not found

Question

I want to rewrite my current URL that is

http://localhost/sitename/landing-page/?from=Algeria&to=Afghanistan&submit=Submit

to http://localhost/sitename/removals-from-Algeria-to-Afghanistan I have written the rewrite rule for this.

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET\ /([^/]+)/landing-page/?\?(from)=([^&]+)&(to)=([^&\s]+) [NC]
RewriteRule ^ /%1/removals-%2-%3-%4-%5? [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^removals-from-([^-]+)-to-([^-]+)$ /removalscenter/landing-page/?from=$1&to=$2&submit=Submit [L]

My htaccess code is..

 # BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /removalscenter/
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET\ /([^/]+)/landing-page/?\?(from)=([^&]+)&(to)=([^&\s]+) [NC]
RewriteRule ^ /%1/removals-%2-%3-%4-%5? [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^removals-from-([^-]+)-to-([^-]+)$ /removalscenter/landing-page/?from=$1&to=$2&submit=Submit [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /removalscenter/index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

Now the link is changed.. but it is giving page not found error..

Answer 1

I'm assuming (looking at your RewriteRule pattern) that this .htaccess file is located in the /removalscenter directory? (Although the first couple of directives are generic, allowing for <sitename>, the remaining directives appear to be hardcoded?)

By setting a RewriteBase directive, you don't need to specify the full path for the RewriteRule substitutions - that is the reason for using RewriteBase. You can keep the RewriteRule substitution as relative (simplifying the rules) . For example:

RewriteRule . /removalscenter/index.php [L]

Can simply be:

RewriteRule . index.php [L]

http://localhost/sitename/landing-page/?from=Algeria&to=Afghanistan&submit=Submit

Your example URL does not look like the full URL. It's missing the index document eg. index.php. If you don't explicitly state this then mod_dir will need to "fix it", resulting an additional rewrite which might be causing problems. So, this should be something like:

http://localhost/sitename/landing-page/index.php?from=Algeria&to=Afghanistan&submit=Submit

Likewise, the trailing slash should not be optional in your RewriteCond directive.

In order to debug the 404 further, try temporarily changing the internal rewrite to a temporary (302) external redirect by adding an R flag. For example:

RewriteRule ^removals-from-([^-]+)-to-([^-]+)$ landing-page/index.php?from=$1&to=$2&submit=Submit [L,R]

Does it redirect? What does it redirect to?