Remove headers from output page

mattm591

I am currently writing a program that uses php scripts to log users in and out of the program. The scripts are called by the program and it returns the source code of the page.

For this paticular bit I just need to have the word 'lost' shown if the database wasn't connected to. This is the code I use

<?
$username = $_GET['username'];
if (!$db=mysql_connect(''localhost','username','password')) 
{
die("lost");
}
mysql_select_db("database",$db);
$query = "UPDATE users SET online= 'yes' WHERE username = '".$username."' "; 
$result = mysql_query ($query,$db);
?>

My problem is that as well as showing the word 'lost' if theres a problem connecting I also get all the headers of the page:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: Apache/1.3.29 (Unix)
Transfer-Encoding: chunked

Is there a way for PHP to remove all these and just show 'lost'?

bradgrafelman

As far as I know, no, I do not believe PHP can stop the initial header-output. I would look into solutions for this coming from Apache, not PHP.

mattm591

I presume any apache solutions wouldn't be possible to administer on a 1and1 server?

bradgrafelman

I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to Unix... what exactly is a "1and1 server" ?

mattm591

A server hosted by 1and1 :p What I meant is that I don't have the ability to configure apache.

bradgrafelman

Ah. In that case, no, they wouldn't allow you to mess around in the .conf to suit your needs 😛

HOWEVER, a solution may be feasible by using a .htaccess; I am not sure how to configure Apache to NOT send HTTP headers. RFC standards require them, so I'm not sure Apache would even want to incorporate this ability.

You can try google'ing it... other than that, I can't help. Sorry.

mattm591

Thanks anyway. Anyone else?

Weedpacket

Well, no-one else who knows what they're talking about is going to give you a different answer from bradgrafelman. HTTP headers are required by the HTTP specification.

You can strip them off at the receiving end. The response headers are everything before the first blank line, the content of the response is everything after the blank line. But sending? No.

bradgrafelman

points at Weedpacket, the almighty, ever ominous, all-knowing poster and says...

He said my name! chuckle