The .htaccess file may be a configuration file read by the server. It is ready to override many server configuration settings and may be used for authorization, cache control, website optimization, and URL rewriting.
In WordPress, the .htaccess file is employed most ordinarily for rewriting URLs, making them cleaner, and more readable by humans and search engines.
In the Settings > Permalinks section of the WordPress Administration, you’ve got the choice to pick your URL structure. WordPress will automatically rewrite your .htaccess file to handle the URL structure you decide on.
If WordPress is unable to write down to the file, it’ll ask you to try to to it manually. Manually editing the .htaccess file is risky, because it can cause major server errors if configured incorrectly, so make certain to only copy the contents WordPress advises you to.
Plugins like W3 Total Cache will modify your .htaccess enter order to configure the caching and optimization tools that are a part of the plugin.
The .htaccess file is typically found within the root directory of your WordPress site. Your FTP client might not be ready to show it, as by default all files and directory names starting with a period are considered hidden by the server. To view these hidden files you would like to enable show hidden files option in your FTP client.
