Please help me with a simple apache mod_rewrite : I know it's been asked a hundred times, and I also took my time searching and trying. Somehow I still can't get it to work, only partially.

I have structure of urls like these: (xxxx can be numbers as well)

- index.php?mode=xxxxx
- index.php?category=xxx
- index.php?product=xxxx
- index.php?article=xxxxx
- index.php?blog&post=xxxxx

The url I'd like to see in the end of all variations:

- www.example.com/something
- www.example.com/something/something (in the blog&post case)

I also would like to hide index.php at the end.

I know it shouldn't be complicated, but time is short and I definitely could use a little help. :)
Thanks.