Apache: enable/disable directory browsing (file listing)

disable file listing
assume we want to disable file listing in /var/www (i.e. all directories)

$ sudo cat /var/www/.htaccess
# disable directory listing
Options -Indexes

visit page http://localhost/

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access / on this server.

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Apache/2.2.17 (Ubuntu) Server at localhost Port 80

 

enable directory listing
enable directory listing in /var/www

$ sudo cat /var/www/.htaccess
Options +Indexes

specify which files to hide from listing
disable specifix file extensions from listing in /var/www

$ sudo cat /var/www/.htaccess 
IndexIgnore *~ foo1.txt

specify which files to show on listing
DirectoryIndex default.html