How to block all file access except one using .htaccess

If you use .htaccess to control the file access, i guess u might came to a situation where you want to block all the files but except one. For an example, you might want to block all the php file access in WordPress wp-content folder using .htaccess. however some of the plugins need to have direct file access (and this is php file too). To solve this problem, you can use htaccess to allow the access for only one file.

To block all access except one file using .htaccess, follow the steps below:-

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Since we are using the WordPress example above, then we will provide the example for this example
To block or deny all php file access, we have this content in the wp-content/.htaccess file:-

<FILES ~ "\.php$"> Order allow,deny Deny from all </FILES>

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<FILES ~ "\.php$">
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
</FILES>
Let say today we need to allow direct file access to wp-content/my-public-file.php, then we will add this at the bottom of the wp-content/.htaccess

<Files my-public-file.php> Allow from all Satisfy any </Files>

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<Files my-public-file.php>
Allow from all
Satisfy any
</Files>

* for you to allow a specific plugin file, put the content above in a separate .htaccess in the plugin folder

The final wp-content/.htaccess file content will look like this:-

# deny all php file access
<FILES ~ "\.php$">
	Order allow,deny
	Deny from all
</FILES>

# allow only one file access
<Files my-public-file.php>
Allow from all
Satisfy any
</Files>