PHP http_get_last_response_headers Function

last modified April 4, 2025

The PHP http_get_last_response_headers function retrieves HTTP response headers from the last request. It’s useful for debugging and processing web responses.

Basic Definition

http_get_last_response_headers returns an array of response headers from the most recent HTTP request. Works with HTTP extension functions.

Syntax: http_get_last_response_headers(): array|null. Returns associative array of headers or null if no request was made. Requires pecl_http extension.

Basic Header Retrieval

This example shows how to fetch and display all response headers from a simple HTTP request.

basic_headers.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

http_get(“https://example.com”); $headers = http_get_last_response_headers();

print_r($headers);

This makes a GET request to example.com then retrieves all response headers. The headers are printed in an array format showing keys and values.

Checking Specific Header

This demonstrates checking for a specific header (Content-Type) in the response.

content_type_check.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

http_get(“https://example.com”); $headers = http_get_last_response_headers();

if (isset($headers[‘Content-Type’])) { echo “Content-Type: " . $headers[‘Content-Type’]; } else { echo “Content-Type header not found”; }

This checks if the Content-Type header exists in the response. Content-Type indicates the media type of the returned resource.

Processing All Headers

This example processes all headers from a response in a foreach loop.

process_headers.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

http_get(“https://example.com”); $headers = http_get_last_response_headers();

foreach ($headers as $name => $value) { echo “$name: $value\n”; }

This iterates through all response headers displaying each name-value pair. Useful for debugging or logging complete header information.

Checking Response Status

This shows how to verify the HTTP status code from the response headers.

status_check.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

http_get(“https://example.com”); $headers = http_get_last_response_headers();

if (isset($headers[‘Status’])) { echo “Response status: " . $headers[‘Status’]; } else { echo “Status header not found”; }

The Status header contains the HTTP response status code. This helps determine if the request was successful or encountered an error.

Header Case Sensitivity

This example demonstrates header name case sensitivity in PHP.

header_case.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

http_get(“https://example.com”); $headers = http_get_last_response_headers();

$contentType1 = $headers[‘Content-Type’] ?? ‘Not found’; $contentType2 = $headers[‘content-type’] ?? ‘Not found’;

echo “Content-Type: $contentType1\n”; echo “content-type: $contentType2\n”;

Header names are case-insensitive in HTTP but PHP preserves the original case. This shows how to handle both cases when checking headers.

Best Practices

• Error Handling: Always check if headers exist before access

• Performance: Make requests only when headers are needed

• Security: Sanitize header values before processing

• Compatibility: Verify pecl_http extension is installed

Source

PHP http_get_last_response_headers Documentation

This tutorial covered the PHP http_get_last_response_headers function with practical examples for HTTP header processing in PHP.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar, and I am a passionate programmer with extensive programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. To date, I have authored over 1,400 articles and 8 e-books. I possess more than ten years of experience in teaching programming.

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