Apache Reference Manual (7)

directive
Syntax: ...
Context: server config, virtual host
Status: core
Compatibility: Location is only available in Apache 1.1 and later.
The directive provides for access control by URL. It is similar to the directive, and starts a subsection which is terminated with a directive. sections are processed in the order they appear in the configuration file, after the sections and .htaccess files are read, and after the sections.
Note that URLs do not have to line up with the filesystem at all, it should be emphasized that operates completely outside the filesystem.
For all origin (non-proxy) requests, the URL to be matched is of the form /path/, and you should not include any http://servername prefix. For proxy requests, the URL to be matched is of the form scheme://servername/path, and you must include the prefix.
The URL may use wildcards In a wild-card string, `?' matches any single character, and `*' matches any sequences of characters.
Apache 1.2 and above: Extended regular expressions can also be used, with the addition of the ~ character. For example:
     
would match URLs that contained the substring "/extra/data" or "/special/data". In Apache 1.3 and above, a new directive exists which behaves identical to the regex version of .
The Location functionality is especially useful when combined with the SetHandler directive. For example, to enable status requests, but allow them only from browsers at foo.com, you might use:
    
    SetHandler server-status
    order deny,allow
    deny from all