Webmaster in a Nutshell, Third Edition

Name

order

Synopsis

                     order 
                     order
                  

[Within <Directory> or .htaccess]

The order directive specifies the order in which deny and allow directives are evaluated. The order directive can take one of the following forms:

order deny,allow

deny directives are evaluated before allow directives (this is the default).

order allow,deny

allow directives are evaluated before deny directives.

order mutual-failure

This setting means that any host appearing on the allow list is allowed, and any host listed on the deny list is denied. Finally, any host not appearing on either list is denied.