Redirect url with .htaccess is adding old path

Question

In the same domain, I want to make a 301 redirect from /this/old/path/file.pdf to /this/new/path#abc

I tried this:

Redirect 301 /this/old/path/file.pdf /this/new/path#abc

And it does the redirect but showing the following path:

/this/new/path#abc?/this/old/path/file.pdf

It should be:

/this/new/path#abc

Any hint of what is wrong here?

---Update This is the content of my .htaccess file usign just redirect

RewriteOptions inherit
Options FollowSymLinks
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine on
     
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?/$1 [L]

    Redirect 301 /this/old/path/file.pdf /this/new/path#abc
</IfModule>

And usign RewriteRule

RewriteOptions inherit
Options FollowSymLinks
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine on
     
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?/$1 [L]

    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mydomain.com$
    RewriteRule /this/old/path/file.pdf /this/new/path#abc [NE,R=301]
</IfModule>

This doesn't make any redirect

Don't know if this is important but I am using CPanel.

Answer 1

The Redirect (mod_alias) directive is applied after the mod_rewrite RewriteRule directives, so you are seeing the query string that is applied by the earlier RewriteRule internal rewrite. You basically have a conflict between mod_alias and mod_rewrite.

You need to use a mod_rewrite RewriteRule directive instead before your existing rules, immediately after the RewriteEngine directive. Not at the end. The order is important.

For example:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?example\.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^this/old/path/file\.pdf$ /this/new/path#abc [NE,R=301,L]

Note that the URL-path matched by the RewriteRule pattern does not start with a slash. The first argument to the RewriteRule directive (the pattern) is a regex, so the necessary escaping and anchors need to be applied.

The condition that checks against the HTTP_HOST server variable is necessary if you need this rule to apply only to the stated domain.

The NE flag is required to prevent the # character being URL-encoded in the response (negating its meaning a fragment identifier delimiter).

You will need to clear your browser cache before testing. And test first with 302 (temporary) redirect to avoid potential caching issues.