[RESOLVED] Is this a bug?

tjohnson_nb

I can't understand this behaviour. Here is the code;

if ($form=='Log In'){
	$sql = "SELECT name FROM contacts WHERE user_id = '$id'";
	$dbq=mysql_query($sql);
	$n = mysql_num_rows( $dbq );
	if ($n!=1) {
		mysql_close($link);
		header("Location: log_in.php?form=invalid");
	}
	elseif ($n==1) {
		mysql_close($link);
		header("Location: database.php?user_id=$id");
		exit;
	}
}

If I do not have the 'exit;' statement in the elseif clause the redirect will not work, even though $n=1 ?? Any ideas?

thorpe

Why are you using an elseif in the first place? Your logic is whacked, a simple else is perfectly sufficient.

tjohnson_nb

Thanks Thorpe but it doesn't matter if I use 'else' or 'elseif' , the behaviour is the same. You don't have any idea about why it happens do you?

devinemke

if ($form == 'Log In')
{
	$result = mysql_query("SELECT name FROM contacts WHERE user_id = '$id'") or exit(mysql_error());

if (mysql_num_rows($result)) {$loc = 'database.php?user_id=' . $id;}
else {$loc = 'log_in.php?form=invalid';}

header('location: ' . $loc);
exit();
}

tjohnson_nb

But why do you need the 'exit' statement?

bradgrafelman

I'd have to see the page in action without the exit(), but generally once you output a Location redirect via HTTP headers, you don't really want anything else outputted.

It could be that the script is outputting something later on and is killing the redirect. Again, without a link to this page without the exit(), I can't tell you much more.

EDIT: Also, if you'll look in the manual for [man]header/man, you'll see that even the person who wrote that manual page used an [man]exit[/man] call after the Location redirect examples.

tjohnson_nb

Thanks bradgrafelman, I didn't realize that an exit call is should be there. It makes sense when you think about it. I have been using code for 4 years without it but it seems when you put the header call inside an if statement with several choices the exit statement becomes mandatory.

Weedpacket

tjohnson_nb wrote:
It makes sense when you think about it.

For those of you who are still thinking, observe that there's nothing about a call to header() that stops the script from continuing to execute....🙂

	mysql_close($link);
	if ($n!=1) {
		header("Location: log_in.php?form=invalid");
	}
	else {
		header("Location: database.php?user_id=$id");
	}
	exit;