How can I make a password protected directory in Red hat Linux7.1.

protected from people via the web?

like .htaccess?

This is a rather good page on the subject, theres a few different ways to use it...

http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/docs/tutorials/user.html

ya basically I want to protect my folder from others on web.

As mentioned earlier, if your looking for htaccess info:

http://www.redhat.com/support/resources/faqs/RH-apache-FAQ/topics/htaccess.html

laterz..

AuthType Basic
AuthName "YOUR MESSAGE HERE"
AuthUserFile /home/sites/site4/web/.htpasswd
# SHOULD BE THE ABSOLUTE PATH TO YOUR FOLDER FROM /
AuthPAM_enabled off

<limit GET PUT POST>
require valid-user
</limit>

Do a google search for password.exe which helps you to create encrypted passwords which should placed in .htpasswd

HTH Robbert