Code Question

This supposed to be a "robots exclusion code" for a traffic stat widget plugin (WordPress).

RewriteRule robots\.txt robots.php

RewriteRule robots.txt robots.php

Code (markup):

Are these two lines of code the same? Which should be put on a .htaccess file?

It works with this line of code robots.php that is put on the root directory

<?php
session_start();
$_SESSION['wtcrobot'] = 1;
echo file_get_contents('robots.txt');
exit;
?>

Code (markup):

 

the one with the \. is correct writen, that one should be used.

 

Why would you even do that other than making code bloat... since the overhead of running PHP and the extra request handling on a static file not only takes more time, but would also not work since most bots don't preserve cookies and as such cannot maintain a session!?! (since sessions use ONE cookie to work)

Doesnae make much sense; in fact looks totally banjaxed. Exit for nothing, echoing a file_get_contents instead of using readFile, session that shouldn't work given the target file...