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Is it possible to add headers (defined in a .htaccess file) to a response generated by PHP?

I have the following .htaccess file in my that should add a Header TestHeader to each response delivered by my Apache Webserver:

#<IfModule mod_headers.c>
#  Header unset X-Powered-By
  Header add TestHeader "It works."
#</IfModule>

I also have three additional files in that folder:

  1. html.html

    <html>content</html>

  2. 1.php

    <?php
echo "<html>content php</html>";

  3. 2.php

    <?php
header("TestHeader: Sent from PHP.");
echo "<html>content php</html>";
    • Requesting html.html returns the header TestHeader: "It works."
    • Requesting 1.php does not return header TestHeader
    • Requesting 2.php returns the header TestHeader: "Sent from PHP."

Is it somehow possible to manipulate the response header from PHP output using .htaccess directives?

EDIT: PHP runs as FastCGI on the server.

Edward
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  • I know this is out of scope but would a PHP only solution solve your problem? A way to set the header once in PHP, but that applies to all PHP scripts – BeetleJuice Jul 01 '16 at 13:04
  • It *should* work. If, for example, if in `1.php` you do `print_r(apache_response_headers())` you should get an array with `[TestHeader] => It works.` in it (you may need to call `flush()` first). – CD001 Jul 01 '16 at 13:14
  • @CD001: So you are saying, that PHP somehow removes the headers? – Edward Jul 01 '16 at 13:36
  • @BeetleJuice: Actually, I don't want to touch more than one file. `2.php` was only a test. – Edward Jul 01 '16 at 13:41
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    Are you using mod_php? – Progrock Jul 01 '16 at 13:42
  • My point was, that from what you've got here, it *should* work; `1.php` should have `TestHeader: it works.` set... I ran a quick test on my dev box and it was absolutely fine, so I'm not really sure why you're not getting that TestHeader with the PHP file - everything else being equal (like the PHP file is in a directory affected by the .htaccess file and so on). – CD001 Jul 01 '16 at 14:02
  • @Progrock: PHP runs as `FastCGI`. – Edward Jul 01 '16 at 15:38

2 Answers2

3

You can use SetEnvIf and then add the header accordingly:

SetEnvIf Request_URI "\.php$" phpfile
Header set TestHeader "Sent from PHP" env=phpfile

If the request URL ends with the extension ".php", then SetEnvIf will set a variable "phpfile". If the variable "phpfile" exists only then TestHeader: Sent from PHP will be sent as a response header. You can use this logic for as many extensions or URL patterns as you need.

Edit: If the header already exists i.e. it is sent from PHP, then using Header Set apache will replace it by the new value.

Nidhi
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2

This is likely to be a problem with your Apache version and the fact that PHP runs as FastCGI.

In Apache 2.2.X there was a bug: https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49308

I found a couple of other posts that propose to use the always condition to fix the problem:

Header always add TestHeader "It works."

Also see:

Community
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R_User
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  • Once you know that you have to search for FastCGI and Headers, you can find quite a few issues :-D ; The version on my server is in fact `2.2.x`. – Edward Jul 04 '16 at 08:33