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`
Your example can be explained as

```
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/new/

```

If the URL request is your hostname (REQUEST\_URI) follow by `new` folder...

```
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ new.php?title=$1 [L,QSA]

```

Then rewrite them as your hostname follow by provided string `new.php?title=` and end with variables after `/new/` in original URL request.

Example: URL request to:

```
http://yoursite.com/new/orange

```

server will interpret it as:

```
http://yoursite.com/new.php?title=orange

```