apache mod_rewrite one rule for any number of possibilities

RewriteRule ^([a-z]+)/([^/]*)/([^/]*)/([^/]*)/([^/]*)/([^/]*)$ /index.php?mode=$1&id=$2&$3=$4&$5=$6
RewriteRule ^([a-z]+)/([^/]*)/([^/]*)/([^/]*)$ /index.php?mode=$1&id=$2&$3=$4
RewriteRule ^([a-z]+)/([^/]*)$ /index.php?mode=$1&id=$2
RewriteRule ^([a-z]+)$ /index.php?mode=$1

http://www.domain.com/search
http://www.domain.com/search/3039/sort_by/name_asc/page/23

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?q=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

$path = split('/', $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
array_shift($path); // We always have a first null value
$mode = array_shift($path);

http://example.com/foo/bar/baz

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^(.*)$

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^(.*)$
RewriteRule ^(.*/)([^/]+)/([^/]+) $1?$2=$3&%1 [L]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^(.*)$
RewriteRule ^([^/]+)/ $1.php?%1 [L]

/mypage/param1/val1/param2/val2/param3/val3/...     --->
/mypage.php?param1=val1&param2=val2&param3=val3&...