Apache HTTP Server Version 2.2
Apache HTTP Server Version 2.2
This document refers to the 2.2 version of Apache httpd, which is no longer maintained. The active release is documented here. If you have not already upgraded, please follow this link for more information.
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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".
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 stringfile [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 stringMIME-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 stringMIME-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" mars.gif
AddDescription "My friend Marshall" friends/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 DescriptionWidthIndexOptions 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.
Absolute paths are not currently supported and do not match anything at runtime. Arguments with relative path information, which would normally only be used in htaccess context, are implicitly prefixed with '*/' to avoid matching partial directory names.
| Description: | Icon to display for a file selected by name |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | AddIcon iconname [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 iconMIME-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 valid content-encoding, such as x-compress.
AddIconByEncoding /icons/compress.xbm x-compress
| Description: | Icon to display next to files selected by MIME content-type |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | AddIconByType iconMIME-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 OptionsMultiViews is in effect. If filename resolves to a static text/html document (not a CGI script) and either one of the optionsIncludes 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: | Inserts text in the HEAD section of an index page. |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | IndexHeadInsert "markup ..." |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
| Compatibility: | Available in Apache 2.2.11 and later |
The IndexHeadInsert directive specifies a string to insert in the <head> section of the HTML generated for the index page.
IndexHeadInsert "<link rel=\"sitemap\" href=\"/sitemap.html\">"
| 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 replacing the list of ignored files. By default, the list contains . (the current directory).
IndexIgnore .??* *~ *# HEADER* README* RCS CVS *,v *,t
This directive does not currently work in configuration sections that have regular expression arguments, such as <DirectoryMatch>
| 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. It is necessary for utf-8 enabled platforms or if file names or description text will alternate between left-to-right and right-to-left reading order.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.HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED or HTTP_FORBIDDENIndexOptions 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: | Adds a CSS stylesheet to the directory index |
|---|---|
| Syntax: | IndexStyleSheet url-path |
| Context: | server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess |
| Override: | Indexes |
| Status: | Base |
| Module: | mod_autoindex |
The IndexStyleSheet directive sets the name of the file that will be used as the CSS for the index listing.
IndexStyleSheet "/css/style.css"
| 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.
