apache - How do I redirect a specific URL pattern when Drupal Clean URLs are on? -

i have drupal 5.23 installation using clean urls apache , mod_rewrite module. using .htaccess file clean urls functionality following configuration:

<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c>     rewriteengine on      rewritecond %{request_filename} !-f     rewritecond %{request_filename} !-d     rewritecond %{request_uri} !=/favicon.ico     rewriterule ^(.*)$ index.php?q=$1 [l,qsa] </ifmodule> 

i going disabling localization/internationalization plugins on website, going change every single page's url on website http://www.example.com/en/url-to-a-page http://www.example.com/url-to-a-page (the /en portion being stripped out).

i add mod_rewrite rule give http 301 redirect response incoming urls /en portion in url directed correct page.

i've tried adding following lines .htaccess file both above , below existing rules, in both cases visiting page /en results in http 404 not found response:

rewriterule ^en/(.+)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [r=301] 

if comment out existing rules, rule works fine. i've tried add condition rule, doesn't appear have effect either:

rewritecond %{request_uri} =/en/* 

this came me when writing of custom redirects, , turns out solution add "l" redirect line. give following @ try:

rewriterule ^en/(.+)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [l,r=301] 

note "l" near end of line. that, according the apache rewriterule docs, means "stop rewriting process here , don't apply more rewrite rules".