Apache Cookbook, 2nd Edition

Chapter 12. Directory Listings

The default Apache HTTP Server package includes a module, mod_autoindex, for displaying a directory listing as a Web page. The default display is simple and informative, but the module provides all sorts of controls to let you tweak and customize the output.

12.1. Generating Directory/Folder Listings

Problem

You want to see a directory listing when a directory is requested.

Solution

Turn on Options Indexes for the directory in question:

<Directory /www/htdocs/images>
    Options +Indexes
</Directory>

Discussion

When a URL maps to a directory or folder in the filesystem, Apache will respond to the request in one of three ways:

1. If mod_dir is part of the server configuration, and the mapped directory is within the scope of a DirectoryIndex directive, and the server can find one of the files identified in that directive, then the file will be used to generate the response.

2. If mod_autoindex is part of the server configuration and the mapped directory is within the scope of an Options directive that has enabled the Indexes keyword, then the server will construct a directory listing at runtime and supply it as the response.

3. The server will return a 404 (“Resource Not Found”) status.

Enabling directory listings

The real keys to enabling the server’s ability to automatically generate a listing of files in a directory are the inclusion of mod_autoindex in the configuration and the Indexes keyword to the Options directive. This can be done either as an absolute form, as in: