mod_rewrite index.php

I need some help with something I am trying to solve here and cannot find anything online

I need to mod_rewrite to redirect with 301 to remove duplicate content from google the following:

www.site.com/courses/index.php?cat=89&start=0
to
www.site.com/courses/?cat=89

and at the same time redirect only the
www.site.com/courses/index.php to
www.site.com/courses/

i cannot do it I have been trying for hours
any help?

thank you

re: mod_rewrite index.php

Check out rewrite conditions - they're a lot like programming conditionals.

Also, you may not know this, but /index.php?var=x is the same as /?var=x, because, if your server is set up correctly, it will show a default page (index.php) if no page (just a directory) is requested. However, I may not be understand your problem.

- mark.

re: mod_rewrite index.php

Actually, you don't need rewrite conditions.

Try this: