Joomla remove index.php - redirect to homepage .htaccess

Question

Following is my .htaccess, SEF and Use rewriting enable in global config. But i can still access my home page with two urls; for instance: www.example.com and www.example.com/index.php.

Am I doing something wrong? Can you please suggest how can i get rid from index.php cuz google has index two urls one: www.example.com 2nd: www.example.com/index.php

##
# @package      Joomla
# @copyright    Copyright (C) 2005 - 2014 Open Source Matters. All rights reserved.
# @license      GNU General Public License version 2 or later; see LICENSE.txt
##

##
# READ THIS COMPLETELY IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE THIS FILE!
#
# The line just below this section: 'Options +FollowSymLinks' may cause problems
# with some server configurations.  It is required for use of mod_rewrite, but may already
# be set by your server administrator in a way that dissallows changing it in
# your .htaccess file.  If using it causes your server to error out, comment it out (add # to
# beginning of line), reload your site in your browser and test your sef url's.  If they work,
# it has been set by your server administrator and you do not need it set here.
##

## Can be commented out if causes errors, see notes above.
Options +FollowSymLinks

## Mod_rewrite in use.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^mysitename.com [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.mysitename.com/$1 [L,R=301]
#

## Begin - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits.
# If you experience problems on your site block out the operations listed below
# This attempts to block the most common type of exploit `attempts` to Joomla!
#
# Block out any script trying to base64_encode data within the URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} base64_encode[^(]*\([^)]*\) [OR]
# Block out any script that includes a <script> tag in URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|%3C)([^s]*s)+cript.*(>|%3E) [NC,OR]
# Block out any script trying to set a PHP GLOBALS variable via URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
# Block out any script trying to modify a _REQUEST variable via URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
# Return 403 Forbidden header and show the content of the root homepage
RewriteRule .* index.php [F]
#
## End - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits.

## Begin - Custom redirects
#
# If you need to redirect some pages, or set a canonical non-www to
# www redirect (or vice versa), place that code here. Ensure those
# redirects use the correct RewriteRule syntax and the [R=301,L] flags.
#
## End - Custom redirects

##
# Uncomment following line if your webserver's URL
# is not directly related to physical file paths.
# Update Your Joomla! Directory (just / for root).
##

# RewriteBase /

## Begin - Joomla! core SEF Section.
#
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
#
# If the requested path and file is not /index.php and the request
# has not already been internally rewritten to the index.php script
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index\.php
# and the request is for something within the component folder,
# or for the site root, or for an extensionless URL, or the
# requested URL ends with one of the listed extensions
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /component/|(/[^.]*|\.(php|html?|feed|pdf|vcf|raw))$ [NC]
# and the requested path and file doesn't directly match a physical file
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
# and the requested path and file doesn't directly match a physical folder
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
# internally rewrite the request to the index.php script
RewriteRule .* index.php [L]
#
## End - Joomla! core SEF Section.

Answer 1

You can try something like below:

# Redirect index.php to Root
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} !^POST
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /index\.php\ HTTP/
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT}>s ^(443>(s)|[0-9]+>s)$
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ http%2://yoursite.com/ [R=301,L]

Update:

Try with the below content for the .htaccess file. It contains also a few extra rules for enhanced security. Make sure you read all the lines, and make any adjustments where needed.

Notes - Instructions:

1. Make a copy of your old htaccess file, rename it to htaccess-old.txt and keep it on your server.
2. Paste the content from here to the active .htaccess file and save.
3. If for any reason, you get 500 errors from your server - revert back to the old htaccess and report here.
4. Just to make sure everyone is on the same page, for the htaccess file to be working, it needs to be renamed from the default htaccess.txt file in the joomla root, to .htaccess.

Also, you need to enable URL Rewriting in Joomla Global Configuration.

# @package    Joomla
# @copyright  Copyright (C) 2005 - 2014 Open Source Matters. All rights reserved.
# @license    GNU General Public License version 2 or later; see LICENSE.txt
##

##
# READ THIS COMPLETELY IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE THIS FILE!
#
# The line just below this section: 'Options +FollowSymLinks' may cause problems
# with some server configurations.  It is required for use of mod_rewrite, but may already
# be set by your server administrator in a way that dissallows changing it in
# your .htaccess file.  If using it causes your server to error out, comment it out (add # to
# beginning of line), reload your site in your browser and test your sef url's.  If they work,
# it has been set by your server administrator and you do not need it set here.
##

##### Begin - RewriteEngine enabled  
### 1. --- Can be commented out if causes errors, see notes above. ---
RewriteEngine On
##### End - RewriteEngine enabled

##### Begin - RewriteBase set 
### 1. ----------  MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENABLED THE REWRITE SETTINGS IN GLOBAL CONFIGURATION IN JOOMLA ADMIN -------
### 2. ----------  IF YOUR SITE IS NOT AT THE ROOT, YOU NEED TO SPECIFY THE FOLDER E.G. RewriteBase /yourSiteRootFolder -------

RewriteBase /
##### End - RewriteBase set 



##### Begin - File execution order 
### 1. ----------THIS IS WILL MAKE SURE THAT INDEX.PHP IS LOADED FIRST THAN INDEX.HTML -------
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
##### End - File execution order --

##### Begin - Block directory listings
### 1. ----------This is an EXTRA SECURITY MEASURE to Disable Directory Listings-------
IndexIgnore *
Options -Indexes
##### End - No directory listings


##### Begin - Redirect index.php to root
### 1. ---------- MAKE SURE YOU ADD YOUR SITE URL AT THE REWRITE RULE -------
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} !^POST
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /index\.php\ HTTP/
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT}>s ^(443>(s)|[0-9]+>s)$
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ http%2://yoursite.com/ [R=301,L]
##### End - Redirect index.php to root


##### Begin - Redirect non-www to www
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]
##### End - Redirect non-www to www

## Begin - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits.
# If you experience problems on your site block out the operations listed below
# This attempts to block the most common type of exploit `attempts` to Joomla!
#
# Block out any script trying to base64_encode data within the URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} base64_encode[^(]*\([^)]*\) [OR]
# Block out any script that includes a <script> tag in URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|%3C)([^s]*s)+cript.*(>|%3E) [NC,OR]
# Block out any script trying to set a PHP GLOBALS variable via URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
# Block out any script trying to modify a _REQUEST variable via URL.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
# Return 403 Forbidden header and show the content of the root homepage
RewriteRule .* index.php [F]
#
## End - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits.


## Begin - Server Protection : Disallow access to htaccess.txt, php.ini and configuration.php-dist
### 1. --- Extra security measure, to prevent access to these essential files ---
RewriteRule ^(htaccess\.txt|configuration\.php-dist|php\.ini)$ - [F]
##### End - server protection


## Begin - Joomla! core SEF Section.
#
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
#
# If the requested path and file is not /index.php and the request
# has not already been internally rewritten to the index.php script
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index\.php
# and the requested path and file doesn't directly match a physical file
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
# and the requested path and file doesn't directly match a physical folder
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
# internally rewrite the request to the index.php script
RewriteRule .* index.php [L]
#
## End - Joomla! core SEF Section.