Question: ```
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/new/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ new.php?title=$1 [L,QSA]

```

im confused as to what this does....

what does the REQEUST\_URI do ?

Answer: 
If (`RewriteCond`) the requested URI starts with `/new/`, the script `new.php` is called (`RewriteRule`). It will be passed the requested URI as the `title` parameter, the query string (if any) will be preserved (the `QSA` flag), and no further rules will be processed after this one (the `L` flag).

i.e.

* `http://example.com/new/test.html` would call `http://example.com/new.php?title=/new/test.html`
* `http://example.com/new/test2.html?query=test3` would call `http://example.com/new.php?title=/new/test2.html&query=test3`
If the URL begins with "/new/", it rewrites the URL to new.php, placing the old URL as the value for the "title" field.

"/new/Foo+Bar?bam=bug-AWWK!" becomes "new.php?title=/new/Foo+Bar&bam=bug-AWWK!" or (if the RewriteRule is in an .htaccess file) "new.php?title=new/Foo+Bar&bam=bug-AWWK!".