How to redirect HTTP to HTTPS using .htaccess

Learn how to redirect website traffic from HTTP to HTTPS using a .htaccess file in this quick and easy tutorial.

Redirect a domain from HTTP to HTTPS

Insert the following lines at the very beginning of the .htaccess file in your website’s folder.

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
	RewriteEngine on
	RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
	RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com$ [NC,OR]
	RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.example.com$ [NC]
	RewriteRule (.*) https://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
	RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com$ [NC]
	RewriteRule (.*) https://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
</IfModule>

Be sure to replace example.com in the above code with your actual domain.

If a .htaccess file doesn’t exist in your website’s folder, simply create a new one. Keep in mind that the filename begins with a period (.).

Redirect a subdomain from HTTP to HTTPS

For subdomains such as sub.example.com, use the following code instead:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
	RewriteEngine on
	RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
	RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^sub.example.com$ [NC,OR]
	RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.sub.example.com$ [NC]
	RewriteRule (.*) https://sub.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
	RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.sub.example.com$ [NC]
	RewriteRule (.*) https://sub.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
</IfModule>

Be sure to replace sub.example.com in the above code with your actual subdomain.

That’s all there is to it! Your website visitors should now be redirected from HTTP to HTTPS.