PHP language detection script

Question

After I read some stuff on-line I came up with this PHP script to detect the browser's language and redirect the user to the correct website's version. Short said, if the user has a browser in Swedish, then the script should redirect to index.php, if not, then it should redirect the user to en.php.

It works fine in some computers and mobile phones and in others it blocks the website. I suppose that the script is not OK and is causing some conflict in older browsers.

So, could you please take a look at my script and tell me if I am doing anything wrong and how can I fix it?

Cheers!

<?php
include ('administration/fonts.php');
?><?php
$lc = ""; // Initialize the language code variable
// Check to see that the global language server variable isset()
// If it is set, we cut the first two characters from that string
if(isset($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'])){
    $lc = substr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'], 0, 2);
}
// Now we simply evaluate that variable to detect specific languages

if($lc == "sv"){
    header("location: index.php");
    exit();
}

else if($lc == "en"){
    header("location: en.php");
    exit();
}
?>

P.S. - Yes, the script is before the tag and there are no spaces between the "?>" tag and tag.

What's the name of the file? Is it index.php? If yes, you've created an endless loop for swedish browsers. — Reeno
– Reeno, Commented Mar 20, 2014 at 15:32
@Reeno yes, your thought sounds logic actually... read the answer I gave to your answer below! — viriato
– viriato, Commented Mar 21, 2014 at 6:55

Reeno · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-21 08:46:47Z

2

New answer after added details from the OP.

English users should be redirected, but Swedish user should stay on this site, so we'll rewrite the code like this (I added comments with // Reeno):

<?php
include ('administration/fonts.php');

$lc = ""; // Initialize the language code variable
// Check to see that the global language server variable isset()
// If it is set, we cut the first two characters from that string
if(isset($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'])){
    // Reeno: I added strtolower() if some browser sends upper case letters
    $lc = strtolower(substr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'], 0, 2));
}
// Now we simply evaluate that variable to detect specific languages

// Reeno: Redirect all non-Swedish users to the English page (they can have "en", but also "dk", "de", "fr"...
if($lc != "sv"){
    header("location: http://www.domain.com/en.php");
    exit();
}
// Reeno: Swedish users stay on this site
?>
HTML code...

Old answer

You check for $lc == "sv" and $lc == "en" but you forgot the third case: $lc could be empty!

Rewrite the if at the end like this, so everybody with a non Swedish browser will get to en.php:

if($lc == "sv"){
    header("location: index.php");
    exit();
}
else {
    header("location: en.php");
    exit();
}
?>

btw header("location: ..."); requires an absolute URI like header("location:http://www.domain.com/en.php"); (some clients also accept relative URIs)

edited Mar 21, 2014 at 8:46

answered Mar 20, 2014 at 15:28

Reeno

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8 Comments

michal.hubczyk Over a year ago

No, his code is fine, because user should stay on current version if no language is present. In your case the user will be redirected always, not when necessary.

Reeno Over a year ago

if the user has a browser in Swedish, then the script should redirect to index.php, if not, then it should redirect the user to en.php.

The OP always expects a redirect

Reeno Over a year ago

I still may be wrong :) See my comment to his question, now I think there's another problem

viriato Over a year ago

I have tested your code. The website still works but now the only version I see on the browser is the English one. Before I could see the Swedish one on IE and Safari which are in Swedish... I will ask someone to test it and let you know about the results later. Cheers!

Reeno Over a year ago

But is the file you're calling the same file you're redirecting the Swedish users to? Or is it some other file, e.g. language.php? Is the code you posted the complete file or is there some HTML/PHP after the last ?>?

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