Question

I have my user-based site set up as follows:

1. Each user has their own profile page at mydomain.com/user123
2. Behind the scenes, and unbeknownst to the user, this redirects to mydomain.com/profile.php?user=user123

If someone visits any URL like mydomain.com/randomstring, how would I ensure that the viewer does not see “mydomain.com/profile.php?user=randomstring” in instances where “randomstring” is not equal to a current username that is registered with my site, but instead they see a 404 error?

(for reference purposes, profile.php populates a pre-defined template that pulls custom variables associated with each unique username. Therefore, if a certain username doesn’t exist, going to mydomain.com/randomstring would bring up an empty page titled “randomstring’s profile page.”)

Answer 1

<?php
if(/*USER_DOESN'T_EXIST*/)
header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
?>