[php] PHP header(Location: ...): Force URL change in address bar

I'm currently working on a mobile site with authentication using PHP sessions with a database. I have a login page with a form that goes to server_login.php on submit. The php file then creates some session data (store in $_SESSION), and redirects the user back to the index page:

header("location:../../index.php");

The new web page (index.php) loads correctly; however, when the header redirects the page, the URL at the address bar is not changed; it stays at *http://localhost/php/server/server_login.php* instead of http://localhost/index.php and thus all my other resources that makes use of relative pathing could not be loaded. It's as if the web page still thinks that it resides at /php/server instead of /.

Strangely, my other use of header("location: ...") at logout.php works and redirects the page successfully with a URL change.

I've made sure that there are no outputs in my *server_login.php* before the header redirect (above it are just mysql calls to check) and I've used ob_start() and ob_end_flush() too.

Are there any methods of forcing the URL on the address bar to change (and thus hopefully fix the relative path problem)? Or am I doing something wrong?

P/S: I am using jQuery Mobile.

EDIT: Here's my code for the redirection that doesn't change the URL:

// some other stuff not shown


$sql = "SELECT * FROM $user_table WHERE email = '$myemail' AND password = '$mypassword'";
$login_result = mysql_query($sql, $connection);

$count = mysql_num_rows($login_result);

if ($count == 1) {

    // Successfully verified login information

    session_start();

    if (!isset($_SESSION['is_logged_in'])) {
        $_SESSION['is_logged_in'] = 1;
    }

    if (!isset($_SESSION['email'])) {
        $_SESSION['email'] = $myemail;
    }
    if (!isset($_SESSION['password'])) {
        $_SESSION['password'] = $mypassword;
    }

    // Register user's name and ID
    if ((!isset($_SESSION['name'])) && (!isset($_SESSION['user_id'])))  {
        $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($login_result);
        $_SESSION['name'] = $row['name'];
        $_SESSION['user_id'] = $row['user_id'];
    }

    header("Location: http://localhost:8080/meet2eat/index.php");

} else {
    // Not logged in. Redirect back to login page
    header("Location: http://localhost:8080/meet2eat/php/login.php?err=1");

}

use

header("Location: index.php"); //this work in my site

read more on header() at php documentation.

you may want to put a break; after your location:

header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
header('Location:  '.  $YourArrayName["YourURL"]  );
break;

You are suppose to use it like header(Location:../index.php) if it in another folder

In your form element add data-ajax="false". I had the same problem using jquery mobile.

I had the same problem with posting a form. What I did was that turning off the data-ajax.

// Register user's name and ID

if ((!isset($_SESSION['name'])) && (!isset($_SESSION['user_id'])))  {
    $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($login_result);
    $_SESSION['name'] = $row['name'];
    $_SESSION['user_id'] = $row['user_id'];
}

header("Location: http://localhost:8080/meet2eat/index.php");

change to

// Register user's name and ID

if ((!isset($_SESSION['name'])) && (!isset($_SESSION['user_id'])))  {
    $row = mysql_fetch_assoc($login_result);
    $_SESSION['name'] = $row['name'];
    $_SESSION['user_id'] = $row['user_id'];
header("Location: http://localhost:8080/meet2eat/index.php");
}

why all of this location url?

http://localhost:8080/meet2eat/index.php

you can just use

index.php

if the php files are in the same folder and this is better because if you want to host the files or change the port you will have no problem reaching this URL.

As "cfphpflex" suggested you can add break; after setting the header. You can also echo something, such as echo 'test';.

Just change home to your liking

$home_url = 'http://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . dirname($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']) . '/home';

header('Location: ' . $home_url);

Do not use any white space. I had the same issue. Then I removed white space like:

header("location:index.php"); or header('location:index.php');

Then it worked.

I got a solution for you, Why dont you rather use Explode if your url is something like

Url-> website.com/test/blog.php

$StringExplo=explode("/",$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
$HeadTo=$StringExplo[0]."/Index.php";
Header("Location: ".$HeadTo);

Are you sure the page you are redirecting too doesn't have a redirection within that if no session data is found? That could be your problem

Also yes always add whitespace like @Peter O suggested.

Try changing:

header("Location : blabla")
                ^
                |
           (whitespace)

To

header("Location: blabla")

Well, if the server sends a correct redirection header, the browser redirects and therefore "changes the url". It might be a browser issue, then. I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but you should not send a relative url in the location header ("HTTP/1.1 requires an absolute URI as argument to » Location: including the scheme, hostname and absolute path, but some clients accept relative URIs. ", http://php.net/manual/en/function.header.php), and "location" must be capitalized, like:

header('Location: http://myhost.com/mypage.php');