Exact Match

Exact matching tells NGINX:

“Match this location only if the request URI is exactly the same—no more, no less.”

If the URI differs even by one character, the match fails.

location = /path {
    ...
}

• = means exact match only
• No regex
• Case-sensitive
• Highest priority in location matching

How Exact Matching Works

location = /login {
    return 403;
}

Request URI	Match?	Why
/login	Yes	Exact
/login/	No	Extra /
/login?user=1	Yes	Query string ignored
/Login	No	Case-sensitive

Query strings are ignored during location matching.

Priority: Exact Match Always Wins

NGINX location matching order:

1. Exact match (=) ← highest priority
2. Longest prefix match
3. Regex match
4. location / fallback

Once an exact match is found, NGINX stops searching immediately.

Protect a Sensitive URL

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location = /admin {
        deny all;
    }

    location /admin/ {
        auth_basic "Admin Area";
        auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd;
    }
}

Request	Result
/admin	❌ Access denied
/admin/	🔐 Auth required
/admin/settings	🔐 Auth required

Exact match allows fine-grained control.

Exact Match vs Prefix Match

location = /about {
    return 200 "Exact About";
}

location /about {
    return 200 "Prefix About";
}

Request	Matched Location
/about	= /about
/about/	/about
/about/team	/about

Common Use Cases for Exact Matching

1. Redirect a single URL

location = /old-page {
    return 301 /new-page;
}

2. Block a specific endpoint

location = /xmlrpc.php {
    deny all;
}

3. Optimize performance for hot URLs

location = /health {
    access_log off;
    return 200 "OK";
}

4. Override application routes

location = /favicon.ico {
    access_log off;
    log_not_found off;
}

Exact Match with try_files

location = / {
    try_files /index.html =404;
}

• Applies only to /
• Does not affect /anything-else

Common Mistakes

• Expecting /path/ to match /path
• Forgetting query strings don’t affect matching
• Overusing exact matches where prefix is better
• Thinking exact matches apply to subpaths