What are some common pitfalls to avoid when redirecting to a new file in PHP and outputting content, such as PDF files?

One common pitfall to avoid when redirecting to a new file in PHP and outputting content, such as PDF files, is to ensure that no output is sent to the browser before the file is sent. This can be achieved by using output buffering to capture any output before sending the file. 

ob_start(); // Start output buffering

// Your code to generate or fetch the PDF file content

ob_end_clean(); // Clean (erase) the output buffer and turn off output buffering

header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="example.pdf"');

// Output the PDF content
readfile('path/to/example.pdf');
exit;

Keywords

header content-type ob_start ob_end_flush PDFmime

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