.htaccess File

Context:
- It can (typically) be used when the administrator does not have access to the main Apache Configuration Files.
- It can be renamed using the AccessFileName directive.
- It can use the same syntax as the main Apache Configuration Files.
See: httpd.conf.

References

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/howto/htaccess.html
- QUOTE: .htaccess files (or "distributed configuration files") provide a way to make configuration changes on a per-directory basis. A file, containing one or more configuration directives, is placed in a particular document directory, and the directives apply to that directory, and all subdirectories thereof.
  In general, .htaccess files use the same syntax as the main configuration files. What you can put in these files is determined by the AllowOverride directive. This directive specifies, in categories, what directives will be honored if they are found in a .htaccess file. If a directive is permitted in a .htaccess file, the documentation for that directive will contain an Override section, specifying what value must be in AllowOverride in order for that directive to be permitted. …
  … In general, you should only use .htaccess files when you don't have access to the main server configuration file. There is, for example, a common misconception that user authentication should always be done in .htaccess files, and, in more recent years, another misconception that mod_rewrite directives must go in .htaccess files. This is simply not the case. You can put user authentication configurations in the main server configuration, and this is, in fact, the preferred way to do things. Likewise, mod_rewrite directives work better, in many respects, in the main server configuration.