{"id":435,"date":"2012-07-30T19:42:39","date_gmt":"2012-07-30T19:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/2012\/07\/30\/force-www-htaccess\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T11:33:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T15:33:30","slug":"force-www-htaccess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/website\/force-www-htaccess\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Force www and non-www on Your Domain with .htaccess"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"force<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many customers at some point request to either force<\/strong> www<\/strong> or non-www<\/strong> version of their site to display in their visitor\u2019s browser. For example, you can have www.example.com<\/em> or simply example.com<\/em> display in an address bar. While this difference won\u2019t affect how visitors find your site, it can be a matter of aesthetic preference. This article will guide you through how to force www or non-www in your .htaccess file. You can access the .htaccess file through the cPanel File Manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Force www or non-www in your .htaccess file in cPanel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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  1. First, log into your cPanel<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Once logged into cPanel, Find the Files <\/strong>category and click on the File Manager<\/strong> icon. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Next, click Settings<\/strong> at the top right corner.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. In the Settings Menu, choose the document root (or folder) for the domain you are working with and be sure the checkbox next to Show Hidden Files<\/strong> is checked. Click the Save<\/strong> button.
    <\/div><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Look for the .htaccess<\/em> file and right click on it. This brings up a menu. Find and click on the Edit <\/strong>option.
    <\/div><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. You are now in the text editor. Place either selection of code in the file and click on the Save Changes<\/strong> button at the top right corner of the screen. Be sure to replace \u2018example.com<\/em><\/span>\u2018 with your actual domain name. NOTE: do not place both selections of code in the file as it will cause an error. Below are examples of code that you can use to implement the desired change to the website.
    <\/div><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    How to Force www on Your Domain<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    A search engine such as Google interprets example.com<\/strong> and www.example.com<\/strong> as essentially two separate websites. It is recommended that users pick one version they\u2019d like search engines to display. By using a 301 redirect<\/a>, users can specify which domain name is displayed on their site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you have a number of links on the web where people are linking to your site as example.com<\/strong>, but you would prefer your visitors end up at www.example.com<\/strong> instead, you can force this version of your domain with these rules:<\/p>\n\n\n\n