How to remove public/index.php/ from url

I am having the same issue, i added the rewrite rule from the codeigniter guide and set my rewritebase but i am having the is "You don't have permission to access /http://localhost/exercism/apptest/public/index.php/home/sayhi on this server."

1) Your document root is not set properly - it should map to the public folder of your project.
2) Your permissions are not correct - right from the error message you report.