Ok, think I get ya... If you want to redirect, you can do.... redirect permanent ^site.com/prodddetail.php?prod=test(.*) site.com/test$1 I think you'll need both the redirect and the rewrite if I understand you correctly, but the thread is getting a little complex now as people have posted other questions instead of starting new threads
Hello Nick, I can confirm that my rss code, including the use of $searchquery works perfectly. mysite/news.php?query=??? displays the rss feed perfectly. I did the tests you said. news.php?query=??? echos the query; news/???.shtml does not. Remember that news/query.shtml goes to the right page. So the rewrite is working, the rss is working, but the carrying through of the query is not (or maybe the getting of it).
Yes, adding &query=... on the end of news/query.shtml is now working. But, without it it will not pass the query. If I can't resolve it, I'll have to take the second best option, making semi-static urls like http://caboosh.org/news/football.shtml?query=football The part before the ? will be search engine friendly.