#29162 [Opn->Csd]: HEAD request script terminates on non-header output

ID: 29162 Updated by: vrana@php.net Reported By: php-bugs at carldunham dot com -Status: Open +Status: Closed Bug Type: Documentation problem Operating System: Linux (Gentoo 1.4) PHP Version: 4.3.7 New Comment: This bug has been fixed in the documentation's XML sources. Since the online and downloadable versions of the documentation need some time to get updated, we would like to ask you to be a bit patient. Thank you for the report, and for helping us make our documentation better. Documented by REQUEST_METHOD in reserved.variables.server: (didn't find better place for it) "PHP script is terminated after sending headers (it means after producing any output without output buffering) if request method was HEAD." Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2004-07-15 02:42:15] iliaa@php.net This is expected behavior, it should be documented. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2004-07-14 22:00:29] php-bugs at carldunham dot com Description: ------------ It seems that a script executing in response to a HEAD request will terminate when non-header output is generated. This can lead to different behavior in HEAD vs GET, which may not be desirable. Other bug reports (http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=15693) have indicated that the entire script executes, which does not seem to be the case. I was unable to find documentation of what is the intended behavior, although I would vote for having the script complete no matter the method, as working around cases where that is not desirable is easier: if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'HEAD') exit(); at the top of a script, vs. if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] != 'HEAD') { // do outputty things } // do non-outputty things sprinkled throughout the code. Reproduce code: --------------- <?php $fp = fopen('/tmp/test-head.out', 'a'); fwrite($fp, "Method = " . $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] . "\n"); echo "hello"; fwrite($fp, "POST: " . print_r($_POST, true) . "\n"); fwrite($fp, "GET: " . print_r($_GET, true) . "\n\n"); fclose($fp); ?> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=29162&edit=1