use mod_rewrite to catch all querystring vars

[OnIIcE]

Hi guys!

I was wondering if anyone has any decent references for mod_rewrite?

Ive been scouring the web and found a few cheat sheets for it and managed to come up with

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule search/(.*)/(.*)/?(.*)/(.*)/?(.*)/(.*)/?(.*)/(.*)/?(.*)/(.*)/$ /search.php?$1=$2&$3=$4&$5=$6&$7=$8

which works ok if all the 4 varibles are present. However I want to be able to pass different amounts at once.

e.g.
cat/1
cat/1/item/2
cat/1/sort/asc
cat/1/sort/dec/filter/type

what ive done allows me to have them in what ever order, which is fine - however if they are not all present it dies.

is it possible for it to have as many or few items as needed?

cheers in advance

Fred