Understanding nginx location priority

To help clarify nginx location priority I will expliain the order in which nginx will try to match a location to a request. I also made the following diagram to help explain how nginx chooses a location.

Remember that order matters:

1. Exact Match

Nginx will look for exact match locations first. If it finds one, it will stop looking for other locations.

e.g.:

location = /about {
    #...
}

1. Preferential Prefix

Next, nginx will look for locations with a preferential prefix. If it finds one, it will stop looking for other locations.

e.g.:

location ^~ /about {
    #...
}

1. Regex Match

If no exact match or preferential prefix is found, nginx will look for regex match locations.

e.g.:

location ~ ^/about {
    #...
}

1. No Modifier

If none of the above is found, nginx will look for locations with no modifier. So if you have a location with no modifier, it will be the last one to be and will be the one that will be used.

e.g.:

location /about {
    #...
}