php redirect with HTTP query string variables

atm I'm using the following four lines to redirect the user to another page on my website:

<?php
    header("Status: 301 Moved Permanently");
    header("Location: ./content/index.html");
    exit;
?>

but there is a problem with the use of HTTP query string variables like http://< url >?param=blah
they don't get appended to url understandably.

Is there a smart move for implementing this?

greetings

Solution 1:

<?php
    header("Status: 301 Moved Permanently");
    header("Location:./content/index.html?". $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']);
    exit;
?>

Solution 2:

To do the redirect and make sure an extra question mark does not show up when query string is not passed use the following

function preserve_qs() {
    if (empty($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) && strpos($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], "?") === false) {
        return "";
    }
    return "?" . $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'];
}
header("Status: 301 Moved Permanently");
header("Location: ./content/index.html" . preserve_qs());

Solution 3:

I would like to add one more option...
Anyways - like others have said, using (.htaccess) mod_rewrite would probably be the best option.

However,
there surely can be many situations when you have to do it in PHP => you have 2 options:

1. Append your redirection URI with $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']
2. Append your redirection URI with a query built on your own : http_build_query($_GET);

Option 2. - Advantages (+)

• Encodes the parameters ( default by PHP_QUERY_RFC1738 )
• you can easily add (or remove) some $_GET params like:
  $_GET['new_param']="new value"; (add)
  unset($_GET['param_to_remove']); (remove)
• if environment (god knows why) does not provide a QUERY_STRING - you are probably still able to get the superglobal $_GET => environmentaly independent
• http_build_query()'s 1st param can actually be ANY array or object so you can build a $_GET-like request from $_POST or $o = new YourObject(); if necessary
• you can change argument separator if necessary

Option 2. - Dissadvantages (-)

• this kind of building query might be redundant ("good-for-nothing"), just unnecessary...
• if the query is big enaugh (maybe some attack?) it could have an affect on performace, because everytime there will be an array converted to a string & encoded

For more info see http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.http-build-query.php - a PHP manual's site about the http_build_query() function which Returns a URL-encoded string.