question on location header

[tentim]

Is it Ok(valid) to use a query string in a location header e.g
header('location:login.php?id=$theid').
A novice question,eh?

[byron3@earthlink]

Yes

[kromey]

FYI, you should be using FQDNs in you location header:

header("Location: http://mysite.com/login.php?id=$theid"); 

Relative URLs will work, but are technically invalid.

[chrisio]

FYI, you should be using FQDNs in you location header:

header("Location: http://mysite.com/login.php?id=$theid"); 

Relative URLs will work, but are technically invalid.

in which way, will they break at some point or is it just bad practice?

Thanks
Chris

[kromey]

If a UA (i.e. a browser) comes along that strictly follows standards then yes, it will break. However, as every browser currently out there makes allowances for violations like this, in actuality it is merely bad practice.

Personally, I prefer to take the extra 2 seconds to make my location headers absolute URLs just in case a standards-strict browser does ever come along.

[kyberfabrikken]

I think they may be some issues with ssl-encrypted pages, if you don't follow the standard. I'm not sure, I just think I remember having a problem in that direction once.