PHP header not working in foreach - php

Question

Somewhat strange situation here
$location = 'Location: http://localhost/pages';
//header($location); exit; works
$response->header($location)->send(); exit; //doesn't work
and the $response object's class
public headers = [];
public function header($string, $replace = true, $code = 200)
{
$this->headers[] = [
'string' => $string,
'replace' => $replace,
'code' => $code
];
return $this;
}
public function send()
{
foreach ($this->headers as $header) {
header($header['string'], $header['replace'], $header['code']);
}
}
The code works fine when using vanilla header but it doesn't when using the methods. Am I missing something here?

Answer 1

You are returning the Location header to the browser with a 200 status code.
For a redirection to actually occur, a 3xx response code should be sent instead (usually, a 302). A 200 response code simply means "OK, content follows". For a redirection to actually take place, a 3xx response code must be given.
Your code is ultimately calling
header('Location: http://localhost/pages', true, 200);
which isn't going to result in the browser redirecting you to the desired location.
PHP itself special-cases calls to header('Location: ...') and unless otherwise specified, uses a 302 instead of leaving the response code unchanged. You may want to adjust your code to do the same to keep the same behavior as PHP.
Also, important to note that, while every HTTP response only has one response code, header() allows you to set the response code each time you call it.
Thus, if you use your code like this:
$response
->header("Location: http://localhost/pages", true, 302)
->header("SomeOtherheader: value")
->send()
;
the 302 you intended to send will get replaced with the 200 that gets set in the next call to header().
Instead, what you should do is either separate the concept of setting the status code from actually setting the header content, e.g.:
$response
->header("Location: http://localhost/pages"))
->header("SomeOtherheader: value")
->responseCode(302)
->send()
;
or instead do what header() does and treat an unspecified response code as meaning, don't change the what's already been set:
public function header($string, $replace = true, $code = false) { ... }
false (or 0) passed on to PHP's header() will indicate that.