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November 29th, 2007
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I got tired of always having to search google to remember the syntax for issuing seo friendly (300, 301, 302, 303, 305, 306, 307) Redirects using multiple programming languages and methods... so I made my own list!
Redirection Methods
- Redirect with meta http-equiv tags
- Redirect with javascript
- Redirect with PHP
- Redirect with Perl
- Redirect with ColdFusion (CFM)
- Redirect with ASP (VB Script)
- Redirect with shell script
- Redirect with mod_rewrite in apache htaccess
- Redirect with mod_alias in apache htaccess
- Redirect with ErrorDocument in apache htaccess
- Redirect with Django/Python
Am I missing something? Most definately! Please use the comment form below to suggest new code.
Redirect with meta http-equiv tags
These go in the <head> </head> section of your html. Usually when you use this meta redirect method you should also use the javascript method, just to be safe.
Refresh meta http-equiv tag
Redirects to http://www.askapache.com after 0 seconds.
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=http://www.askapache.com" />
Redirect with javascript
These go in the <head> </head> section of your html.
Basic javascript Redirect method
Will redirect user to http://www.askapache.com immediately
<script type="text/javascript"> window.location.href='http://www.askapache.com'; </script>
Redirect after specific time period
This will redirect to http://www.askapache.com after 2 seconds
<body onload="javascript:setTimeout(function(){window.location.href='http://www.askapache.com'},2000);">
Redirect with PHP
Using "Location" header
<?php
header('Location:http://www.askapache.com');
exit;
exit();
?>
Using "Refresh" header
<?php
header('Refresh: 0; URL=http://www.askapache.com');
exit;
exit();
?>
Ultimate PHP method
It redirects to a page specified by "$url". $mode can be:
- LOCATION: Redirect via Header "Location"
- REFRESH: Redirect via Header "Refresh"
- META: Redirect via HTML META tag
- JS: Redirect via JavaScript command
<?php
function do_redirect($url,$mode)
{
if (strncmp('http:',$url,5) && strncmp('https:',$url,6)) {
$starturl = ($_SERVER["HTTPS"] == 'on' ? 'https' : 'http') . '://'.
(empty($_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'])? $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] : $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']);
if ($url[0] != '/') $starturl .= dirname($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']).'/';
$url = "$starturl$url";
}
switch($mode) {
case 'LOCATION':
header("Location: $url");
exit;
case 'REFRESH':
header("Refresh: 0; URL=\"$url\"");
exit;
case 'META':
exit;
default:
?><script type="text/javascript">
window.location.href='<?=$url?>';
</script><?
}
exit;
}
?>
Redirect with Perl
Simple 302 Redirect with perl
#!/usr/bin/perl my $URL = "http://www.askapache.com"; print "Status: 302 Moved\nLocation: $URL\n\n";
Simpler 302 Redirect with perl
#!/usr/bin/perl print "Location: http://www.askapache.com\n\n"; exit;
Redirect with ColdFusion (CFM)
Using cheader for 301 "permanent" redirect
<cfheader statuscode="301" statustext="Moved Permanently"> <cfheader name="Location" value="http://www.askapache.com"> <cfabort>
Using clflocation for 302 "temporary" redirect
<cflocation url="http://www.askapache.com">
Redirect with ASP (VB Script)
301 Redirect
<%@ Language=VBScript %> <% response.status="301 moved permanently" Response.AddHeader "Location", "http://www.askapache.com" %>
Redirect with shell script
302 Redirect with sh shell script
#!/bin/sh echo "Content-type: text/html" echo "Location: http://www.askapache.com"; echo ""; exit 0;
Redirect with mod_rewrite in apache htaccess
See also Ultimate Apache htaccess article and URL Redirection
301 Redirect
Redirects permanently when a request is made to site.com/thisword.html to http://www.askapache.com
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^thisword\.html$ http://www.askapache.com [R=301,NC,L]
302 Redirect
Redirects temporarily when a request is made to site.com/thisword.html to http://www.askapache.com
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^thisword\.html$ http://www.askapache.com [R,NC,L]
Redirect with mod_alias in apache htaccess
301 Redirect
Redirect 301 /thisword.html http://www.askapache.com
or with RedirectPerm
RedirectPerm /thisword.html http://www.askapache.com
or with RedirectMatch
RedirectMatch 301 ^thisword\.html$ http://www.askapache.com
302 Redirect
Redirect 302 /thisword.html http://www.askapache.com
or with RedirectTemp
RedirectTemp /thisword.html http://www.askapache.com
or with RedirectMatch
RedirectMatch 302 ^thisword\.html$ http://www.askapache.com
Redirect with ErrorDocument in apache htaccess
302 Redirect
Issues a 302 Redirect to http://www.askapache.com when a file is not found. See also Force Apache to output any HTTP Status Code with ErrorDocument
ErrorDocument 404 http://www.askapache.com
Redirect with Python / Django
Thanks to thebjorn for contributing this first one, which issues a 302 Redirect.
from django import http
def view(request):
return http.HttpResponseRedirect('http://www.askapache.com/')
This example was contributed by John and shows how to issue a proper 301 Redirect, additional info on this below the example.
from django import http
def view(request):
return http.HttpResponsePermanentRedirect ('http://www.askapache.com/')
Django includes a number of HttpResponse subclasses that handle different types of HTTP responses. Like HttpResponse, these subclasses live in django.http.
- HttpResponseRedirect
- The constructor takes a single argument -- the path to redirect to. This can be a fully qualified URL (e.g. 'http://www.askapache.com/htaccess/') or an absolute URL with no domain (e.g. '/htaccess/'). Note that this returns an HTTP status code 302.
- HttpResponsePermanentRedirect
- Like HttpResponseRedirect, but it returns a permanent redirect (HTTP status code 301) instead of a "found" redirect (status code 302).
- HttpResponseNotModified
- The constructor doesn't take any arguments. Use this to designate that a page hasn't been modified since the user's last request (status code 304).
Reader Comments
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Hi, If I want to redirect all pages from my old website to the home page of my new website, would this be enough:
Pingback:TRICKS FORUM » Beginner’s Guide to SEO: Best Practices – Part 2/3
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Script "Ultimate PHP method" reported Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end
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Great post! I found it really useful. Any idea if the header redirect is seo fiendly. Aa far as I know the best one is the .htaccess one. Any advice on this issue.
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Hey, thanks for this list. It really helped me out!
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Heya - the Python example actually would prompt a 302 redirect
In order to prompt a 301, note that you would need to utilize the
HttpResponsePermanentRedirectclass a la:from django import http def view(request): return http.HttpResponsePermanentRedirect ('http://www.askapache.com')
Reference: httpresponse-subclasses
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@Luis Apache loads every time anyway@... so using it
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The links under the "Redirect Method" section appear to have been meant to be anchor links, yet they all redirect to your main page (askapache.com). I'm thinking the anchor tags on the page weren't done correctly.
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Which would be the preferred redirect method: PHP or Mod Rewrite ? Why? I'm just curious abut it.
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This is great information. Thanks a bunch
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Excellent collection! Thx
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Thanks for such nice list
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Thanks for the list! saved me a bunch of time. If you'd like to add the code for Django/Python it is: from django import http def view(request): return http.HttpResponseRedirect('http://www.htaccesselite.com')
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Thanks for this fantastic checklist! I will send my students to this page.
