From: Daniel Gruno
The Pattern is always a regular -expression matched against the URL-Path of the incoming request -(the part after the hostname but before any question mark indicating -the beginning of a query string) or, in per-directory context, against -the request's path relative to the directory for which the rule is -defined.
+The Pattern is a regular expression. +It is initially (for the first rewrite rule or until a substitution occurs) +matched against the URL-path of the incoming request (the part after the +hostname but before any question mark indicating the beginning of a query +string) or, in per-directory context, against the request's path relative +to the directory for which the rule is defined. Once a substitution has +occured, the rules that follow are matched against the substituted +value. +
diff --git a/docs/manual/rewrite/intro.xml b/docs/manual/rewrite/intro.xml
index 88a64d2e7db..ea0d4db321e 100644
--- a/docs/manual/rewrite/intro.xml
+++ b/docs/manual/rewrite/intro.xml
@@ -173,12 +173,15 @@ of three arguments separated by spaces. The arguments are
The Pattern is always a regular -expression matched against the URL-Path of the incoming request -(the part after the hostname but before any question mark indicating -the beginning of a query string) or, in per-directory context, against -the request's path relative to the directory for which the rule is -defined.
+The Pattern is a regular expression. +It is initially (for the first rewrite rule or until a substitution occurs) +matched against the URL-path of the incoming request (the part after the +hostname but before any question mark indicating the beginning of a query +string) or, in per-directory context, against the request's path relative +to the directory for which the rule is defined. Once a substitution has +occured, the rules that follow are matched against the substituted +value. +