Convert lighttpd rewrite rule to nginx

[justin]

I have the following simple lighttpd rewrite rule:

    $HTTP["host"] =~ "^(app\.mydomain\.com)$" {
        url.rewrite-once = (
                "^[^.]*$" => "controller.php/$1"
        )
    }

I am trying to port this rule to nginx and have the following:

    server {
      listen 80;

      server_name app.mydomain.com;

      if ($host = 'app.mydomain.com') {
        rewrite ^[^.]*$ controller.php/$1 last;
      }

      root /srv/www/domains/app.mydomain.com;

      index index.php;

      access_log /var/log/nginx/domains/app.mydomain.com/access.log;
      error_log /var/log/nginx/domains/app.mydomain.com/error.log;

      include /etc/nginx/excludes.conf;
      include /etc/nginx/php.conf;
     include /etc/nginx/expires.conf;
}

The problem is that the rewrite rule for nginx is not working correctly?
Any idea what I am doing wrong?

Thanks much.

Posted at Nginx Forum: http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,228909,228909#msg-228909