php:

<?
    if( isset($_GET['vars']) && $_GET['vars'] != '') {
        $url = $_GET['vars'];
    }
    

    if($url == '') {
        try {
            $conn = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=' . DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD);
            $conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);    
             
            $stmt = $conn->prepare('SELECT * FROM articles ORDER BY article_date DESC');
            $stmt->execute();
            $articles_array = $stmt->fetchAll();

            if( count($articles_array) > 0) {
                $article_template = 'articles_listing.php';
            } else {
                header('Location: /articles/');
                exit;
            }
         
        } catch(PDOException $e) {
            header('Location: /articles/');
            exit;
        }

    } else {
        try {
            $conn = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=' . DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD);
            $conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);    
             
            $stmt = $conn->prepare('SELECT * FROM articles WHERE url = ?');
            $stmt->execute(array($url));
            $articles_array = $stmt->fetchAll();

            if( count($articles_array) > 0) {

                //SET META TITLE TO ARTICLE TITLE
                $page_title = some_unnecessary_function_copied_from_codeigniter($articles_array[0]['title']);

                /* CREATE PREV/NEXT ARRAY FOR PAGINATION */
                $stmt = $conn->prepare('SELECT * FROM articles ORDER BY article_date DESC');
                $stmt->execute();
                $articles_list_array = $stmt->fetchAll();

                foreach($articles_list_array as $article) {
                    $pagination_array[] = $article['id'];
                    $url_array[$article['id']] = $article['url'];
                }

                $array_key = array_search($articles_array[0]['id'], $pagination_array);

                if(array_key_exists($array_key-1, $pagination_array)) {
                    $prev_link = $url_array[ $pagination_array[$array_key-1] ];
                }
                if(array_key_exists($array_key+1, $pagination_array)) {
                    $next_link = $url_array[ $pagination_array[$array_key+1] ];
                }

                $article_template = 'articles_single.php';
            } else {
                header('Location: /articles/');
                exit;
            }
         
        } catch(PDOException $e) {
            header('Location: /articles/');
            exit;
        }
    }


// then there was some HTML below all of this this, wrapping the included $article_template 

?>