echo or print question (maybe)?

This is probably simple, but I have a real brain cramp today. I have the code below - if there is an error connecting to the database I am setting an error message and then trying to get the script to return to step2.php. Right now all it does is display the contents of $redirect - how do I get it to actually execute header(location: step2.php); instead of just displaying the content? $redirect = "header(location: step2.php)"; This gets set in file 'A'. if(!@mysql_select_db($databasename)) { This is part of an include in file 'A'. $message['server'] = $d_base_error; echo "$redirect"; exit; }