Meta refresh vs. header()

[TecBrat]

I have found many occasions where I want to use an existing script inside one of my pages. If I have html content before the script starts, I have run into problems because the scripts use something like

header('Location: ' . $url);

and I get header already sent errors.

I found that I can replace that code with

?><meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=<?echo($url);?>"><?

and it works. The last time I used it, I could actually see the refresh even though the content is set to zero, but that's not too big a deal.

 

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what, if anything, I might expect for problems caused by this change.

[only one]

your gonna want header, meta only works after the page is shown, but php is read before anything is shown, thats why if you use a header it refreshes straight away

[hockeyman10]

Back in the summer I couldn't get Header to work in Firefox. Is this still a problem?

[neel_basu]

Use header() Just to redirect User Dont Send anything to the browser even dont send any text (echo ) And If You wanna use meta use it whenever you want. In your HTML.

[Full-Demon]

Be sure you use the header before you do anything. With meta tag, the user will first receive the page and that the browser redirects. Same for javascript though. I use javascript (although I hate that language) to redirect a user when the page is already (partly) loaded. But use the header if possible.

 

Full-Demon