http_response_code

(PHP 5 >= 5.4.0, PHP 7, PHP 8)

http_response_code — Get or Set the HTTP response code

Description

http_response_code(int $response_code = 0): int|bool

Gets or sets the HTTP response status code.

Parameters

response_code: The optional response_code will set the response code.

Return Values

If response_code is provided, then the previous status code will be returned. If response_code is not provided, then the current status code will be returned. Both of these values will default to a 200 status code if used in a web server environment.

false will be returned if response_code is not provided and it is not invoked in a web server environment (such as from a CLI application). true will be returned if response_code is provided and it is not invoked in a web server environment (but only when no previous response status has been set).

Examples

Example #1 Using http_response_code() in a web server environment

<?php

// Get the current response code and set a new one
var_dump(http_response_code(404));

// Get the new response code
var_dump(http_response_code());
?>

The above example will output:

int(200)
int(404)

Example #2 Using http_response_code() in a CLI environment

<?php

// Get the current default response code
var_dump(http_response_code());

// Set a response code
var_dump(http_response_code(201));

// Get the new response code
var_dump(http_response_code());
?>

The above example will output:

bool(false)
bool(true)
int(201)

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User Contributed Notes 15 notes

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195

craig at craigfrancis dot co dot uk ¶

12 years ago

If your version of PHP does not include this function:

<?php

    if (!function_exists('http_response_code')) {
        function http_response_code($code = NULL) {

            if ($code !== NULL) {

                switch ($code) {
                    case 100: $text = 'Continue'; break;
                    case 101: $text = 'Switching Protocols'; break;
                    case 200: $text = 'OK'; break;
                    case 201: $text = 'Created'; break;
                    case 202: $text = 'Accepted'; break;
                    case 203: $text = 'Non-Authoritative Information'; break;
                    case 204: $text = 'No Content'; break;
                    case 205: $text = 'Reset Content'; break;
                    case 206: $text = 'Partial Content'; break;
                    case 300: $text = 'Multiple Choices'; break;
                    case 301: $text = 'Moved Permanently'; break;
                    case 302: $text = 'Moved Temporarily'; break;
                    case 303: $text = 'See Other'; break;
                    case 304: $text = 'Not Modified'; break;
                    case 305: $text = 'Use Proxy'; break;
                    case 400: $text = 'Bad Request'; break;
                    case 401: $text = 'Unauthorized'; break;
                    case 402: $text = 'Payment Required'; break;
                    case 403: $text = 'Forbidden'; break;
                    case 404: $text = 'Not Found'; break;
                    case 405: $text = 'Method Not Allowed'; break;
                    case 406: $text = 'Not Acceptable'; break;
                    case 407: $text = 'Proxy Authentication Required'; break;
                    case 408: $text = 'Request Time-out'; break;
                    case 409: $text = 'Conflict'; break;
                    case 410: $text = 'Gone'; break;
                    case 411: $text = 'Length Required'; break;
                    case 412: $text = 'Precondition Failed'; break;
                    case 413: $text = 'Request Entity Too Large'; break;
                    case 414: $text = 'Request-URI Too Large'; break;
                    case 415: $text = 'Unsupported Media Type'; break;
                    case 500: $text = 'Internal Server Error'; break;
                    case 501: $text = 'Not Implemented'; break;
                    case 502: $text = 'Bad Gateway'; break;
                    case 503: $text = 'Service Unavailable'; break;
                    case 504: $text = 'Gateway Time-out'; break;
                    case 505: $text = 'HTTP Version not supported'; break;
                    default:
                        exit('Unknown http status code "' . htmlentities($code) . '"');
                    break;
                }

                $protocol = (isset($_SERVER['SERVER_PROTOCOL']) ? $_SERVER['SERVER_PROTOCOL'] : 'HTTP/1.0');

                header($protocol . ' ' . $code . ' ' . $text);

                $GLOBALS['http_response_code'] = $code;

            } else {

                $code = (isset($GLOBALS['http_response_code']) ? $GLOBALS['http_response_code'] : 200);

            }

            return $code;

        }
    }

?>

In this example I am using $GLOBALS, but you can use whatever storage mechanism you like... I don't think there is a way to return the current status code:

https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52555

For reference the error codes I got from PHP's source code:

http://lxr.php.net/opengrok/xref/PHP_5_4/sapi/cgi/cgi_main.c#354

And how the current http header is sent, with the variables it uses:

http://lxr.php.net/opengrok/xref/PHP_5_4/main/SAPI.c#856

down

Stefan W ¶

10 years ago

Note that you can NOT set arbitrary response codes with this function, only those that are known to PHP (or the SAPI PHP is running on). 

The following codes currently work as expected (with PHP running as Apache module):
200 – 208, 226
300 – 305, 307, 308
400 – 417, 422 – 424, 426, 428 – 429, 431
500 – 508, 510 – 511

Codes 0, 100, 101, and 102 will be sent as "200 OK".

Everything else will result in "500 Internal Server Error".

If you want to send responses with a freestyle status line, you need to use the `header()` function:

<?php header("HTTP/1.0 418 I'm A Teapot"); ?>

down

Thomas A. P. ¶

9 years ago

When setting the response code to non-standard ones like 420, Apache outputs 500 Internal Server Error.

This happens when using header(0,0,420) and http_response_code(420).
Use header('HTTP/1.1 420 Enhance Your Calm') instead.

Note that the response code in the string IS interpreted and used in the access log and output via http_response_code().

down

Anonymous ¶

11 years ago

Status codes as an array:

<?php
$http_status_codes = array(100 => "Continue", 101 => "Switching Protocols", 102 => "Processing", 200 => "OK", 201 => "Created", 202 => "Accepted", 203 => "Non-Authoritative Information", 204 => "No Content", 205 => "Reset Content", 206 => "Partial Content", 207 => "Multi-Status", 300 => "Multiple Choices", 301 => "Moved Permanently", 302 => "Found", 303 => "See Other", 304 => "Not Modified", 305 => "Use Proxy", 306 => "(Unused)", 307 => "Temporary Redirect", 308 => "Permanent Redirect", 400 => "Bad Request", 401 => "Unauthorized", 402 => "Payment Required", 403 => "Forbidden", 404 => "Not Found", 405 => "Method Not Allowed", 406 => "Not Acceptable", 407 => "Proxy Authentication Required", 408 => "Request Timeout", 409 => "Conflict", 410 => "Gone", 411 => "Length Required", 412 => "Precondition Failed", 413 => "Request Entity Too Large", 414 => "Request-URI Too Long", 415 => "Unsupported Media Type", 416 => "Requested Range Not Satisfiable", 417 => "Expectation Failed", 418 => "I'm a teapot", 419 => "Authentication Timeout", 420 => "Enhance Your Calm", 422 => "Unprocessable Entity", 423 => "Locked", 424 => "Failed Dependency", 424 => "Method Failure", 425 => "Unordered Collection", 426 => "Upgrade Required", 428 => "Precondition Required", 429 => "Too Many Requests", 431 => "Request Header Fields Too Large", 444 => "No Response", 449 => "Retry With", 450 => "Blocked by Windows Parental Controls", 451 => "Unavailable For Legal Reasons", 494 => "Request Header Too Large", 495 => "Cert Error", 496 => "No Cert", 497 => "HTTP to HTTPS", 499 => "Client Closed Request", 500 => "Internal Server Error", 501 => "Not Implemented", 502 => "Bad Gateway", 503 => "Service Unavailable", 504 => "Gateway Timeout", 505 => "HTTP Version Not Supported", 506 => "Variant Also Negotiates", 507 => "Insufficient Storage", 508 => "Loop Detected", 509 => "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded", 510 => "Not Extended", 511 => "Network Authentication Required", 598 => "Network read timeout error", 599 => "Network connect timeout error");
?>

Source: Wikipedia "List_of_HTTP_status_codes"

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divinity76 at gmail dot com ¶

4 years ago

if you need a response code not supported by http_response_code(), such as WebDAV / RFC4918's "HTTP 507 Insufficient Storage", try:

<?php
header($_SERVER['SERVER_PROTOCOL'] . ' 507 Insufficient Storage');
?>
result: something like

HTTP/1.1 507 Insufficient Storage

down

Anonymous ¶

10 years ago

You can also create a enum by extending the SplEnum class.
<?php

/** HTTP status codes */
class HttpStatusCode extends SplEnum {
    const __default = self::OK;
    
    const SWITCHING_PROTOCOLS = 101;
    const OK = 200;
    const CREATED = 201;
    const ACCEPTED = 202;
    const NONAUTHORITATIVE_INFORMATION = 203;
    const NO_CONTENT = 204;
    const RESET_CONTENT = 205;
    const PARTIAL_CONTENT = 206;
    const MULTIPLE_CHOICES = 300;
    const MOVED_PERMANENTLY = 301;
    const MOVED_TEMPORARILY = 302;
    const SEE_OTHER = 303;
    const NOT_MODIFIED = 304;
    const USE_PROXY = 305;
    const BAD_REQUEST = 400;
    const UNAUTHORIZED = 401;
    const PAYMENT_REQUIRED = 402;
    const FORBIDDEN = 403;
    const NOT_FOUND = 404;
    const METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED = 405;
    const NOT_ACCEPTABLE = 406;
    const PROXY_AUTHENTICATION_REQUIRED = 407;
    const REQUEST_TIMEOUT = 408;
    const CONFLICT = 408;
    const GONE = 410;
    const LENGTH_REQUIRED = 411;
    const PRECONDITION_FAILED = 412;
    const REQUEST_ENTITY_TOO_LARGE = 413;
    const REQUESTURI_TOO_LARGE = 414;
    const UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE = 415;
    const REQUESTED_RANGE_NOT_SATISFIABLE = 416;
    const EXPECTATION_FAILED = 417;
    const IM_A_TEAPOT = 418;
    const INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR = 500;
    const NOT_IMPLEMENTED = 501;
    const BAD_GATEWAY = 502;
    const SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE = 503;
    const GATEWAY_TIMEOUT = 504;
    const HTTP_VERSION_NOT_SUPPORTED = 505;
}

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viaujoc at videotron dot ca ¶

3 years ago

Do not mix the use of http_response_code() and manually setting  the response code header because the actual HTTP status code being returned by the web server may not end up as expected. http_response_code() does not work if the response code has previously been set using the header() function. Example:

<?php
header('HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized');
http_response_code(403);
print(http_response_code());
?>

The raw HTTP response will be (notice the actual status code on the first line does not match the printed http_response_code in the body):

HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2020 13:49:08 GMT
Server: Apache
Connection: Upgrade, Keep-Alive
Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

403

I only tested it on Apache. I am not sure if this behavior is specific to Apache or common to all PHP distributions.

down

Rob Zazueta ¶

11 years ago

The note above from "Anonymous" is wrong. I'm running this behind the AWS Elastic Loadbalancer and trying the header(':'.$error_code...) method mentioned above is treated as invalid HTTP.

The documentation for the header() function has the right way to implement this if you're still on < php 5.4:

<?php
header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
?>

down

Anonymous ¶

12 years ago

If you don't have PHP 5.4 and want to change the returned status code, you can simply write:
<?php
header(':', true, $statusCode);
?>

The ':' are mandatory, or it won't work

down

Steven ¶

9 years ago

http_response_code is basically a shorthand way of writing a http status header, with the added bonus that PHP will work out a suitable Reason Phrase to provide by matching your response code to one of the values in an enumeration it maintains within php-src/main/http_status_codes.h. Note that this means your response code must match a response code that PHP knows about. You can't create your own response codes using this method, however you can using the header method.

In summary - The differences between "http_response_code" and "header" for setting response codes:

1. Using http_response_code will cause PHP to match and apply a Reason Phrase from a list of Reason Phrases that are hard-coded into the PHP source code.

2. Because of point 1 above, if you use http_response_code you must set a code that PHP knows about. You can't set your own custom code, however you can set a custom code (and Reason Phrase) if you use the header method.

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Richard F. ¶

11 years ago

At least on my side with php-fpm and nginx this method does not change the text in the response, only the code.

<?php

// HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
http_response_code(404);

?>

The resulting response is HTTP/1.1 404 OK

down

stephen at bobs-bits dot com ¶

10 years ago

It's not mentioned explicitly, but the return value when SETTING, is the OLD status code.
e.g.
<?php

$a = http_response_code();
$b = http_response_code(202);
$c = http_response_code();

var_dump($a, $b, $c);

// Result:
// int(200)
// int(200)
// int(202)
?>

down

yefremov {dot} sasha () gmail {dot} com ¶

9 years ago

@craig at craigfrancis dot co dot uk@ wrote the function that replaces the original. It is very usefull, but has a bug. The original http_response_code always returns the previous or current code, not the code you are setting now. Here is my fixed version. I also use $GLOBALS to store the current code, but trigger_error() instead of exit. So now, how the function will behave in the case of error lies on the error handler. Or you can change it back to exit().

if (!function_exists('http_response_code')) {
    function http_response_code($code = NULL) {     
        $prev_code = (isset($GLOBALS['http_response_code']) ? $GLOBALS['http_response_code'] : 200);

        if ($code === NULL) {
            return $prev_code;
        }

        switch ($code) {
            case 100: $text = 'Continue'; break;
            case 101: $text = 'Switching Protocols'; break;
            case 200: $text = 'OK'; break;
            case 201: $text = 'Created'; break;
            case 202: $text = 'Accepted'; break;
            case 203: $text = 'Non-Authoritative Information'; break;
            case 204: $text = 'No Content'; break;
            case 205: $text = 'Reset Content'; break;
            case 206: $text = 'Partial Content'; break;
            case 300: $text = 'Multiple Choices'; break;
            case 301: $text = 'Moved Permanently'; break;
            case 302: $text = 'Moved Temporarily'; break;
            case 303: $text = 'See Other'; break;
            case 304: $text = 'Not Modified'; break;
            case 305: $text = 'Use Proxy'; break;
            case 400: $text = 'Bad Request'; break;
            case 401: $text = 'Unauthorized'; break;
            case 402: $text = 'Payment Required'; break;
            case 403: $text = 'Forbidden'; break;
            case 404: $text = 'Not Found'; break;
            case 405: $text = 'Method Not Allowed'; break;
            case 406: $text = 'Not Acceptable'; break;
            case 407: $text = 'Proxy Authentication Required'; break;
            case 408: $text = 'Request Time-out'; break;
            case 409: $text = 'Conflict'; break;
            case 410: $text = 'Gone'; break;
            case 411: $text = 'Length Required'; break;
            case 412: $text = 'Precondition Failed'; break;
            case 413: $text = 'Request Entity Too Large'; break;
            case 414: $text = 'Request-URI Too Large'; break;
            case 415: $text = 'Unsupported Media Type'; break;
            case 500: $text = 'Internal Server Error'; break;
            case 501: $text = 'Not Implemented'; break;
            case 502: $text = 'Bad Gateway'; break;
            case 503: $text = 'Service Unavailable'; break;
            case 504: $text = 'Gateway Time-out'; break;
            case 505: $text = 'HTTP Version not supported'; break;
            default:
                trigger_error('Unknown http status code ' . $code, E_USER_ERROR); // exit('Unknown http status code "' . htmlentities($code) . '"');
                return $prev_code;
        }

        $protocol = (isset($_SERVER['SERVER_PROTOCOL']) ? $_SERVER['SERVER_PROTOCOL'] : 'HTTP/1.0');
        header($protocol . ' ' . $code . ' ' . $text);
        $GLOBALS['http_response_code'] = $code;

        // original function always returns the previous or current code
        return $prev_code;
    }
}

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-1

Chandra Nakka ¶

7 years ago

On PHP 5.3 version, If you want to set HTTP response code. You can try this type of below trick :)

<?php

header('Temporary-Header: True', true, 404);
header_remove('Temporary-Header');

?>

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-2

Anonymous ¶

6 years ago

http_response_code() does not actually send HTTP headers, it only prepares the header list to be sent later on.
So you can call http_reponse_code() to set, get and reset the HTTP response code before it gets sent.

Test code:
<php
http_response_code(500);  // set the code
var_dump(headers_sent());  // check if headers are sent
http_response_code(200);  // avoid a default browser page

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http_response_code

Description

Parameters

Return Values

Examples

See Also

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User Contributed Notes 15 notes