How to use HTTP Headers in PHP
New Courses Coming Soon
Join the waiting lists
PHP lets us set the HTTP headers of a response through the header()
function.
HTTP Headers are a way to send information back to the browser.
We can say the page generates a 500 Internal Server Error:
<?php
header('HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error');
?>
Now you should see the status if you access the page with the Browser Developer Tools open:
We can set the content/type
of a response:
header('Content-Type: text/json');
We can force a 301 redirect:
header('HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently');
header('Location: https://flaviocopes.com');
We can use headers to say to the browser “cache this page”, “don’t cache this page”, and a lot more!
→ Get my PHP Handbook
Here is how can I help you:
- COURSES where I teach everything I know
- CODING BOOTCAMP cohort course - next edition in 2025
- BOOKS 16 coding ebooks you can download for free on JS Python C PHP and lots more
- Follow me on X