Moved from http to https but include www in url

Question

Trying to setup my site so that its on HTTPS AND includes the WWW in the URL.

After a while of searching I found a few posts that helped me redirect to https:

stackoverflow.com/questions/25527671/magento-https-on-all-website-urls-redirect-to-homepage

and then to redirect to get the 'www' added in I used:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

I ended up with everything working eventually! BUT here is where I think a problem lies. It may be me being niggley BUT when you check a URL now on my site (old redirect URL):

http://aloe-herbal.co.uk/categories/Bee-Hive-Products/pages/Contact-Us.html

it redirects fine BUT then using a 301 redirect checker:

redirect-checker.org/index.php

you can clearly see that there is 2 301 redirects happening here.. I don't think that's ideal..

Initially this was happening 2-3 3 times SO as an example if I used the URL to check as:

aloe-herbal.co.uk/fitness-weight-management.html 
@ www.redirect-checker.org/index.php

it would give me the following:

CONGRATULATION. Everything seems to be fine.

http://aloe-herbal.co.uk/fitness-weight-management.html
301 Moved Permanently
http://www.aloe-herbal.co.uk/fitness-weight-management.html
301 Moved Permanently
https://www.aloe-herbal.co.uk/fitness-weight-management.html
200 OK 

I know it says its okay but I am concerned about the extra trip that its having to make..

So I decided top open a question. Well FIRSTLY thanks for a GREAT related questions feature. WOW gave me a fix straight away:

magento.stackexchange.com/questions/40400/magento-goes-first-the-http-then-redirects-to-https

Works like a charm now there is only 1 301 Moved Permanently listed :)

BUT again if you check: http://aloe-herbal.co.uk/categories/Bee-Hive-Products/pages/Contact-Us.html

you can see its there 2 times again... That's what I am trying to fix/avoid..

Can any experts help with this last part?

Answer 1

Did you put

RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

before

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

in your .htaccess file?

If so, Apache would rewrite http://aloe-herbal.co.uk to https://aloe-herbal.co.uk and stop processing further rules due to the 'L' flag. Then it would get a new request (https://aloe-herbal.co.uk) which would be rewritten to https://www.aloe-herbal.co.uk, hence double redirect. Try putting the 'www.'-adding bit before the HTTPS part.

Answer 2

First, make sure that the unsecure as well as secure base URL under System - Configuration - Web is configured to use https. Then try this in your .htaccess:

############################################
## enables the usage of %{ENV:proto} as the protocol (http vs https) in the rewrite rules
    RewriteCond %{HTTPS} =on
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [env=proto:https]
    RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [env=proto:http]

############################################
## redirect from non-www to www
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
    RewriteRule ^ %{ENV:proto}://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

Answer 3

Forget about all this htaccess rewrite. Set your base url for secure and unsecure in the backend. Set yes on use secure url in frontend in the backend.

Then edit your app/etc/local.xml and include this

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
  <frontend>
     <secure_url>
      <all>/</all>
     </secure_url>
   </frontend>
</config>

Or at least paste the XML tree frontend and lower in between the config tags.

EDITED cause mobile screwed up the answer.