PHP header() function (with example)

Hey there,

I've encountered the PHP header() function in a few of my projects, and I can share my experience with you as well.

The header() function in PHP allows you to send HTTP headers back to the browser, giving you the ability to control different aspects of the HTTP response. While there are various use cases, one interesting way I've used it is to handle file downloads.

Let's say you have a website where users can download files such as images, documents, or audio files. You might want to use the header() function to set the appropriate content type and specify a specific filename for the download.

Here's an example:

php
<?php

// Get the file name and path

$file = '/path/to/myfile.jpg';

$filename = 'mycat.jpg';



// Set the appropriate content type for file download

header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');

header('Content-Description: File Transfer');

header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"$filename\"");

header('Expires: 0');

header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate');

header('Pragma: public');

header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file));



// Read the file and output it to the browser

readfile($file);

exit;

?>

Hey there,

I've used the PHP header() function quite extensively in my projects, so I'd be glad to share my experience with you.

In a nutshell, the header() function is used to send HTTP headers back to the browser. It allows you to control various aspects of the HTTP response, such as the HTTP status code, content type, caching directives, and more.

One common scenario where I've used the header() function is for redirecting users to another page. Let's say you have a form submission and after processing it on the server, you want to redirect the user to a success page. You would use the header() function with the "Location" header to achieve this. Here's an example:

php
<?php

if (/* form is successfully processed */) {

    header('Location: success.php');

    exit;

} else {

    header('Location: error.php');

    exit;

}

?>

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