simple 301 redirect - why it doesn't work?

I wanted to redirect site.com to www.site.com so they get equal PR, backlinks etc.
I've added this line to the end of my .htaccess file:

redirect 301 / http://www.site.com/

Code (markup):

But when I tried to open the site, the page didn't load. The index page has no graphics and always loads very fast, so I waited only few seconds and tried this line:

Redirect permanent / http://www.site.com

Code (markup):

With the same result - site isn't loading.

So, do you have any ideas what's wrong? O May I should wait some time before the redirect starts working?

if it helps, here is the tex which was in my .htaccess file before and stays now (i didn't change it). What does it mean exactly, is it good or not

<Files of>
	ForceType application/x-httpd-php
</Files>
<Files aff>
	ForceType application/x-httpd-php
</Files>

Code (markup):

thanks, Mike

 

You need to get the syntax correct. These lines at the end of the file should do it.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /http://www.site.com [R=301]

Code (markup):

Im not sure what the existing lines does, it doesnt look important to me. If you simply with to redirect the complete domain, you can safely remove those lines.

 

I tried that now, but it doesn't work either. Anyway thanks for advice

 

Sorry the first slash (/) should not have been there..
this will definitely work. If it doesnt, your host probably dont support mod_rewrite

[Edit]
this will redirect whatever every page from site.com to the www.site.com homepage.. There is probably a better way redirect you to the same page within the site. From your example code I thought you wanted to forward a domain to another. (will teach me to read threads more carefully..)

here is code for redirect from domain to www.domain

 

Great, it works now!
I hope it won't hurt any of my rankings I'll let you know when it will be updated

 

To redirect to the same page that they tried to access, but on www.site.com instead of site.com use

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^site.com
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.site.com/$1 [R=301]

Code (markup):

 

what is the difference exactly? I mean comparing to the post before with similar code

 

The $1 after www.site.com/ tells it use the page name that it found for the original request. So if they put in site.com/whatever.html, they will be redirected to www.site.com/whatever.html rather than just the home page

 

Oh, great you've noticed!
But something is wrong here, it doesn't work. May be you missed something?

 

Not that I can see. In what way doesn't it work ? Server 500 error ? It only redirects to the home page ?