How to redirect from an existent file path in the site directory or throw a 404 when its URI is requested?

[hellomoto]

Specifically is it not possible to intercept the file path being accessed directly via PHP? I know htaccess can be used on Apache server; what about on Nginx, since it only has a single access config file per server?

How does ProcessWire implement its access directives in nginx?

Edited December 15, 2025 by hellomoto
typo

[Sergio]

Considering you have i.e. `example.com/site/assets/file.zip` being accessed, you could: 

1. Add a rule on Nginx as you mentioned. But ProcessWire won't help you with that; you need to change the Nginx config yourself. 

location = /some/spec/path/ {
    root /home/myweb/path;
    try_files /file.zip =404;
}

//NOT TESTED!

2. Or, if you are using Cloudflare as DNS provider, you can add a rule there to create the redirect without touching your server.

 

[da²]

What file path exactly? Is it a PW page ?