URL redirection
URL redirection
(World-Wide Web)When a web server tells the client browser to obtain acertain requested page from a different location. This iscontrolled by directives in the server's configuration filesor a "Location: header output by a CGI script.
The web server stores all its documents in a directory treerooted at some configured directory, known as its "documentroot". Normally the URI part of the URL (the part afterthe hostname) is used as a relative path from the documentroot to the desired file or directory. A redirect directiveallows the server administrator to specify exceptions to thisgeneral mapping from URL to file name by telling the browser"try this URL instead". The new URL may be on the same serveror a different one and may itself be subject to redirection.
The user is normally unaware of this process except that itmay introduce extra delay while the browser sends the newrequest and the browser will usually display the new URLrather than the one the user originally requested.