PHP: Utilizing exit(); or die(); after header("Location: ");

Question

I have a user login/registration system that simply uses

// execute queries, set cookies, etc. here
header("Location: " . getenv("HTTP_REFERER"));

I recently read a post about exit(); and die(); and had no idea that I was supposed to be using these. From what I understand, they make it end the PHP? Is that correct? What's the best way I can work toward this, simply adding one of these functions directly after ever header(); execution I have?

I have AJAX, jQuery reading through my login.php/register.php, will this be affect in any way?

Edit: Other than after header();, where else should I be usitilizing the exit(); or die(); functions? And is exit(); more used around PHP whereas die(); more used around Perl?

What do you mean by 'AJAX reading through your register.php'? Can you post some code? — konsolenfreddy, Dec 29 '11 at 09:29
My register.php checks if a form was submitted to it, then reads through the inputs, and using AJAX $.post(); it returns any errors found in register.php into the HTML for the user to see. — Aaron, Dec 29 '11 at 09:34
It doesn't particularly matter if you use `die` or `exit` as long as you use one of them. — Grexis, Dec 29 '11 at 09:37
I tend to use exit when it's part of a normal script behavior and die when debugging. I have seen others use this convention too. They do the same thing, but the convention is useful. — Louis-Philippe Huberdeau, Dec 29 '11 at 13:48

score 38 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 05 '14 at 10:31

I have been looking for an answer on this as well. What I found:

Why die() or exit():

If you don't put a die() or exit() after your header('Location: http://something') your script may continue resulting in unexpected behaviour. This may for example result in content being disclosed that you actually wanted to prevent with the redirect (HTTP 301). The aforementioned may not directly be visible for an end user as the browser may not render it (due to the 301). Conclusion, the exit() and die() functions stop the script from continuing.

Difference:

I also wanted to know the difference between the functions as it seems there is none. However, in PHP, there is a distinct difference in Header output. In the examples below I chose to use a different header but for sake of showing the difference between exit() and die() that doesn't matter.

Exit() in action

<?php
    header('HTTP/1.1 304 Not Modified');
    exit();
?>

Results in:

HTTP/1.1 304 Not Modified 
Connection: Keep-Alive 
Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100

Die() in action

<?php
    header('HTTP/1.1 304 Not Modified');
    die();
?>

Results in:

HTTP/1.1 304 Not Modified 
Connection: close

Difference

So, die() closes the connection and exit() doesn't. It depends on performance whether or not you want to keep the connection open or close it. Both have advantages and disadvantages and depends on your specific requirement(s).

HTTP persistent connections on Wiki

My HTTP knowledge is a bit hazy at this stage of the semester - when we pull a 301, the browser will (usually; i.e. a correct spec one) close the connection and open another get request, will it not? Or will it use the existing connection to request again? — lol, Apr 23 '14 at 14:32
You can also join it with `exit(header('Location: xxxxx.php'));` — mowgli, Aug 06 '14 at 17:23
[exit and die are identical](https://www.reddit.com/r/PHP/comments/5hdtkc/seven_syntax_you_can_choose_in_php/dazk1k1/) — mpen, Dec 09 '16 at 23:47
Just tested it and `exit` and `die` work the same way, they both close connection. — Grzegorz Adam Kowalski, Feb 12 '20 at 23:30
https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.die.php Die() is equivalent to exit(). Does it close connection or not, depends on other conditions. — Eugene Zakharenko, Nov 20 '21 at 07:38

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 29 '11 at 09:32

http://php.net/manual/en/function.exit.php

http://php.net/manual/en/function.die.php

This functions are used to interrupt script execution. You need to use exit or die to stop execution of your script after header("Location: " . getenv("HTTP_REFERER"));, because, in other case, your script will be executed till the end, what can cause some unexpected behavior.

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 29 '11 at 13:08

4

Answer has already been accepted however it seems everyone is missing the glaring WTF in the question:

header("Location: " . getenv("HTTP_REFERER"));

Returning a referer is optional on the part of the user agent
it can easily be faked
there is no method for telling the user the login has failed
there is no HTTP semantic communication of an authentication failure
while the environment variable HTTP_REFERER should be the same as the request header variable, it is not specified in RFC 3875, therefore even where presented to the webserver in the request, getenv("HTTP_REFERER") may return a different value

answered Dec 29 '11 at 13:08

symcbean

47,736
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In my login.php I have it check if a user has successfully logged in with proper credentials - if so it will set a cookie - then header("Location"); to the referral page. In this way, no matter where they are on the site, when the logon, it will take them back to the page they logged in at instead of taking them to the main page or login.php. Is there a better method than this then? – Aaron Dec 29 '11 at 17:54
1

Drop a cookie with the intended page URL before rendering the login page, or pass the URL as a $_GET var, or store the intended URL in the session – symcbean Dec 30 '11 at 11:50

Wulfgier · Answer 4 · 2017-03-22T09:52:07.053

2

Ok, it has been a long time since the last answer was given. Anyway :D somehow I stumbled across a similar prob and see what my solution was:

die( Header( "Location: mytarget.php?arg1=foobar" ) );

Two birds with one stone - seems to work for me.

edited Mar 22 '17 at 09:52

answered Mar 20 '17 at 23:04

Wulfgier

29
4

This will keep return value from `header()` function in a temporary variable, which is passed to `die()`. It works, because the return value from `header()` is always `null`. Another difference is that it doesn't allow debuggers to create breakpoints between `die()` and `header()` calls. – ksiimson May 05 '21 at 11:37

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited May 30 '16 at 19:14

0

When header() is called at the end of a script, there's no need to call exit(), nor die() since:

The link to the server will be closed as soon as the execution of the script ends, unless it's closed earlier by explicitly calling mysql_close(). - php.net/function.mysql-connect

edited May 30 '16 at 19:14

Leo

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answered Apr 14 '14 at 13:17

PM1625637

102
10

3

It's absolutely crucial to `exit` or `die` after sending a _Location_ header, since you cannot guarantee that your header will actually be respected. [Have a good read about what can go wrong.](https://thedailywtf.com/articles/WellIntentioned-Destruction) – maryisdead Jun 11 '19 at 15:50

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 20 '19 at 07:13

for($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++)
{
    if ($i == 2)
    {
        exit("\n Using exit(), We are done");
    }
}

Now let us look at the same example using die();

for($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++)
{
    if ($i == 2)
    {
        die("\n Using die(), We are done");
    }
}

The output for each of these will be: “Using exit(), We are done Using die(), We are done” respectively. Now let us try each of these to output a number.

for($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++)
{
    if ($i == 2)
    {
        exit(-1);
    }
}

Looking at the output for the same example using die();

for($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++)
{
    if ($i == 2)
    {
        die(-1);
    }
}

These examples were edited using a textpad editor. The output for both the above cases were “Tool completed with exit code -1”.

So, the honest answer to the question “What is difference between die() and exit() in php” IS – There is not a single visible difference between these two functions. They both are the same, one is the alias of the other. If at all any one of you can find a real visible difference then I would appreciate if you could post it in the comments section of this blog.

Till next time, Happy PHP programming!