How to redirect site root to preferred language in multi-language site?

Question

I followed the Craft directions for setting up a localized site. In the fifth step I followed the first example for setting up my folder structure. In my case the languages I'm working with are French and Arabic.

craft/
public_html/
   fr/                 --> example.com/fr/ (french)
      .htaccess
      index.php
   ar/                 --> example.com/ar/ (arabic)
      .htaccess
      index.php

The primary language for the site is French, what is the best way to redirect so that if a visitor comes to the root of the site www.example.com they will be redirected to the French version at www.example.com/fr/ ?

Should I use a .htaccess file in main public_html directory of the site, should I use the dynamic routes in Craft, or is there some other, better, way?

Answer 1

I would put a .htaccess file in the public HTML folder and let Apache deal with it, that way you don't have the overhead of PHP/Craft having to deal with that request.

Answer 2

Here's the setup I used for the .htaccess file if anyone is interested:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/$
RewriteRule (.*) http://example.com/new_directory/ [R=301,L]