php redirect with HTTP query string variables

Question

atm I'm using the following four lines to redirect the user to another page on my website:

<?php
    header("Status: 301 Moved Permanently");
    header("Location: ./content/index.html");
    exit;
?>

but there is a problem with the use of HTTP query string variables like http://< url >?param=blah
they don't get appended to url understandably.

Is there a smart move for implementing this?

greetings

I believe that you should use a fully qualifiedly uri so try http://domain.tld/path?get=params instead of /path?get=params, otherwise you may have to create a landing page with the meta redirect element. — RobertPitt
– RobertPitt, Commented Jan 15, 2011 at 21:12
What is the problem exactly? There are several possible interpretations — Pekka
– Pekka, Commented Jan 15, 2011 at 21:14
I found I had to remove all of the indent spacing before header(... before it would work php.net/manual/en/function.header.php but it did work with a string of queries assembled from all of the htmlspecialchars($_GET['foo']...htmlspecialchars($_GET['moo'] etc and assembling the search queries into a single var $bar with ` . '&' . ` in between each of them so then header("Location: $bar "); works without htmlspecialchars() messing up the & — Steve
– Steve, Commented Apr 2, 2021 at 17:17

Shikiryu · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-22 14:45:03Z

107

<?php
    header("Status: 301 Moved Permanently");
    header("Location:./content/index.html?". $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']);
    exit;
?>

edited Aug 22, 2012 at 14:45

Shikiryu

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answered Jan 15, 2011 at 21:14

regality

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6 Comments

Achshar Over a year ago

Is it safe? Do we need to encode the query string in any way?

nfrost21 Over a year ago

To avoid the risk of XSS attacks it would be wise to sanitise $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] with htmlspecialchars()

jamesthollowell Over a year ago

@nfrost21, this unfortunately won't work if you have more than one param, as htmlspecialchars() encodes the & delimiter and breaks the params.

jontro Over a year ago

This code will add an extra ? if no query string is passed

Gökhan Mete ERTÜRK Over a year ago

as @jontro pointed out, you better use something like: header("Location:./content/index.html" . ($_GET ? "?" . $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] : "")); To avoid adding an extra ? if there is no query string.

|

jontro · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-30 15:23:12Z

18

To do the redirect and make sure an extra question mark does not show up when query string is not passed use the following

function preserve_qs() {
    if (empty($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) && strpos($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], "?") === false) {
        return "";
    }
    return "?" . $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'];
}
header("Status: 301 Moved Permanently");
header("Location: ./content/index.html" . preserve_qs());

answered Nov 30, 2015 at 15:23

jontro

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Comments

jave.web · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-25 10:03:08Z

I would like to add one more option...
Anyways - like others have said, using (.htaccess) mod_rewrite would probably be the best option.

However,
there surely can be many situations when you have to do it in PHP => you have 2 options:

Append your redirection URI with $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']
Append your redirection URI with a query built on your own : http_build_query($_GET);

Option 2. - Advantages (+)

Encodes the parameters ( default by PHP_QUERY_RFC1738 )
you can easily add (or remove) some $_GET params like:
$_GET['new_param']="new value"; (add)
unset($_GET['param_to_remove']); (remove)
if environment (god knows why) does not provide a QUERY_STRING - you are probably still able to get the superglobal $_GET => environmentaly independent
http_build_query()'s 1st param can actually be ANY array or object so you can build a $_GET-like request from $_POST or $o = new YourObject(); if necessary
you can change argument separator if necessary

Option 2. - Dissadvantages (-)

this kind of building query might be redundant ("good-for-nothing"), just unnecessary...
if the query is big enaugh (maybe some attack?) it could have an affect on performace, because everytime there will be an array converted to a string & encoded

For more info see http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.http-build-query.php - a PHP manual's site about the http_build_query() function which Returns a URL-encoded string.

eklundchristopher · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-15 21:14:05Z

4

Using $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] and appending it to the end of your redirect might be what you're looking for.

EDIT: Just noticed I was a bit late with my reply.

answered Jan 15, 2011 at 21:14

eklundchristopher

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Comments

CrayonViolent · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-15 21:14:45Z

2

First off why not redirect with mod rewrite?

But anyways, you can concat $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] to the end of your url

answered Jan 15, 2011 at 21:14

CrayonViolent

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2 Comments

ryanwinchester Over a year ago

I am finding mod_rewrite is really difficult to redirect query strings unless you know what they are going to be in advance. Either that or results in google search overcomplicate things.

CrayonViolent Over a year ago

@decker I think the google results you found are overcomplicating things. In principle it's no different than the accepted answer. Except with mod_rewrite instead of php.

Alec · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-15 21:13:05Z

1

Add the $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] or QUERY_STRING. Do a print_r($_SERVER); to see more information about the requested URL.

answered Jan 15, 2011 at 21:13

Alec

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Comments

ServAce85 · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-22 06:47:41Z

1

I would also suggest to use mod_rewrite for this task, you can be more flexible.

edited May 22, 2012 at 6:47

ServAce85

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answered Jan 15, 2011 at 21:18

dasrecht

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