How Can I Redirect Users in PHP Without Using Meta Refresh?

Redirecting Users in PHP

Question:

Can PHP be used to redirect users to a different page without employing a meta refresh? If so, how?

Answer:

Basic Redirection Using Header():

To redirect a user, use the header() function to send an HTTP header containing the new URL. This must precede any HTML or text output.

header('Location: '.$newURL);

Important Considerations:

• Add die() or exit() after header() to prevent further output and ensure the redirect works.
• Specify the URL absolutely or relatively.
• Consider using status codes 301 (permanent redirect) or 303 (other) instead of the default 302 (temporary redirect).

Alternatives:

• Utilize the http_redirect($url) function (requires PECL package).

Helper Functions:

• Create a redirect function that incorporates custom status codes:

function redirect($url, $statusCode = 303)
{
   header('Location: ' . $url, true, $statusCode);
   die();
}

Workarounds for Header() Limitations:

• If header() fails due to prior output, consider HTML or JavaScript workarounds for redirection:

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=finalpage.html">

window.location.replace("https://example.com/");

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