.htaccess file
The .htaccess file is a special file that you can use to re-configure the behavior of Apache on a per-directory basis. It is typically used to handle clean URLs for blog applications or to proxy to a Rails setup.
There is official documentation on .htaccess is on the Apache project site.
Be careful when editing and uploading a .htaccess file to your virtual servers. Any syntax error may disable your website, usually ending up with a Internal Server Error on your website. A typical mistake is to edit the file on your local computer where either Windows or OS X might possibly save the file using DOS or Mac line endings. This is something that Apache does not like and may either ignore your .htaccess file or even render the site unusable. Make sure that the file has UNIX line endings when you upload it - good editors should give you that option.
