Apache configuration: Regex to disable access to files/directories beginning with a dot

Question

I want to disable access to any file OR directory, whose name begins with a DOT. I came up with the following, but it disables access to files/directories beginning with DOT onl

Answer 1

You code does not work because only applies to the basename of the requested document. That is, the part after the last slash. (source: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/core.html#files)

Apache blocks .htaccess files in a default installation (better: all files starting with .ht). If you looked closely at the configuration files, you would see something like this:

    Order allow,deny
    Deny from all

So to hide all files starting with a dot, you would use:

    Order allow,deny
    Deny from all

In order to make it work for directories starting with a dot, use the following (tested) code:

    Order allow,deny
    Deny from all