How Can I Close a PHP Connection Early After Initiating a Long-Running Process via AJAX?

Closing a Connection Early

This query addresses the challenge of closing a connection before completing a PHP script. The goal is to initiate a lengthy process through AJAX but return a response indicating its commencement without waiting for the PHP script to finish.

According to the PHP manual, terminating a TCP connection without ending the PHP script involves more than just sending a "close" header. User-note #71172 (November 2006) provides a comprehensive solution:

<?php
ob_end_clean();
header("Connection: close");
ignore_user_abort(true);
ob_start();
echo('Text the user will see');
$size = ob_get_length();
header("Content-Length: $size");
ob_end_flush();
flush();
// Do processing here 
sleep(30);
echo('Text user will never see');
?>

For the solution to work, it is crucial to disable output buffering, purge the buffer, and then send header information. While sending a "close" header is necessary, it is not sufficient to close the connection immediately.

Subsequent user-notes #89177 (February 2009) and #93441 (September 2009) provide additional insights into connection handling and help clarify the nuances of early connection closure in PHP.

The above is the detailed content of How Can I Close a PHP Connection Early After Initiating a Long-Running Process via AJAX?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!