Back to previous page with header( “Location: ” );

Question

The title of this question kind of explains my question. How do I redirect the PHP page visitor back to their previous page with the header( "Location: URL of previous page" );

Answer 1

Just try this in Javascript:

 $previous = "javascript:history.go(-1)";

Or you can try it in PHP:

if(isset($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'])) {
    $previous = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];
}

Answer 2

You have to save that location somehow.

Say it's a POST form, just put the current location in a hidden field and then use it in the header() Location.

Answer 3

try:

header('Location: ' . $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']);

Note that this may not work with secure pages (HTTPS) and it's a pretty bad idea overall as the header can be hijacked, sending the user to some other destination. The header may not even be sent by the browser.

Ideally, you will want to either:

• Append the return address to the request as a query variable (eg. ?back=/list)
• Define a return page in your code (ie. all successful form submissions redirect to the listing page)
• Provide the user the option of where they want to go next (eg. Save and continue editing or just Save)

Answer 4

Its so simple just use this

header("location:javascript://history.go(-1)");

Its working fine for me

Answer 5

Just a little addition: I believe it's a common and known thing to add exit; after the header function in case we don't want the rest of the code to load or execute...

header('Location: ' . $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']);
exit;

Answer 6

Storing previous url in a session variable is bad, because the user might right click on multiple pages and then come back and save.

unless you save the previous url in the session variable to a hidden field in the form and after save header( "Location: save URL of calling page" );