location-examples.md

Here are several examples of how to use the location directive in Nginx for different scenarios:

1. Basic Location Block

This basic location block matches all requests to the root (i.e., /) of the server. It can be used to serve static files, like HTML, CSS, or JavaScript.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location / {
        root /var/www/html;
        index index.html;
    }
}

• Explanation: All requests to the root URL (e.g., http://example.com/) will serve files from the /var/www/html directory, with index.html being the default file if no specific file is requested.

2. Exact Match

Use the = symbol to specify an exact match for a location. This example returns a specific response when /about is requested.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location = /about {
        return 200 "About Us Page";
    }
}

• Explanation: This will only match the exact path /about. If you try accessing /about/ or /about?query=1, it won't match this block.

3. Prefix Match

This example demonstrates a prefix match. Any request starting with /images/ will match this location.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location /images/ {
        root /var/www/example;
    }
}

• Explanation: If a client requests http://example.com/images/picture.jpg, Nginx will serve the file located at /var/www/example/images/picture.jpg.

4. Location with Regex Matching

You can use regular expressions in the location directive. In this example, a regular expression is used to match URLs ending in .php.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location ~ \.php$ {
        root /var/www/html;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

• Explanation: This block matches any URL that ends with .php (e.g., /index.php). It passes the request to the PHP FastCGI process for handling.

5. Serve Static Content from a Different Directory

In this example, requests for static content like images and stylesheets are served from a separate directory.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location /static/ {
        alias /var/www/static_files/;
        expires 30d;
        access_log off;
    }
}

• Explanation: Requests like http://example.com/static/logo.png will be served from /var/www/static_files/logo.png. The alias directive is used when the request path and the file system path differ.

6. Proxy Pass Example

This example shows how to proxy requests to another server, such as an API backend.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name api.example.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

• Explanation: All requests to api.example.com will be forwarded to the backend service running on http://127.0.0.1:8080.

7. Custom 404 Page

You can use a location block to serve a custom 404 error page.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location / {
        root /var/www/html;
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }

    error_page 404 /custom_404.html;
    location = /custom_404.html {
        root /var/www/errors;
    }
}

• Explanation: If a requested file is not found, Nginx will serve /var/www/errors/custom_404.html as a custom error page.

8. Restrict Access by IP Address

In this example, access to /admin is restricted to specific IP addresses.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location /admin {
        allow 192.168.1.1;
        allow 192.168.2.0/24;
        deny all;
    }
}

• Explanation: Only the IP address 192.168.1.1 and the 192.168.2.0/24 subnet are allowed to access /admin. All other IP addresses will be denied.

9. Redirect to Another URL

You can use a location block to perform a redirect.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location /old-page {
        return 301 /new-page;
    }
}

• Explanation: Requests to /old-page will be redirected to /new-page with a 301 Moved Permanently status code.

10. Enforce HTTPS

This example forces all HTTP requests to be redirected to HTTPS.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location / {
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
    }
}

• Explanation: Any HTTP request will be redirected to the same URL but with https://, ensuring that users always access the site securely.

11. Caching Static Files

You can cache static files for a specified period using the expires directive.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js)$ {
        expires 30d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, no-transform";
    }
}

• Explanation: All image, CSS, and JavaScript files will be cached by the browser for 30 days.

12. Serve Precompressed Files (gzip)

Nginx can serve precompressed .gz files if they exist, to improve loading times for static assets.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location / {
        gzip_static on;
        root /var/www/html;
    }
}

• Explanation: If there is a file like style.css.gz, Nginx will serve the .gz version if the client supports it, saving bandwidth.

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These examples cover a wide range of use cases for the location directive in Nginx, from serving static files to proxying requests, handling errors, and implementing security policies.