LPM: CGI question

[Joe Hourcle]

On Thu, 11 Jan 2001, Janine wrote:

> I'm trying to figure out the best way of telling whether a script was
> invoked through a browser or from the command line.  Right now I'm
> checking if ENV{"HTTP_HOST"} exists (yes = browser; no = command
> line).  Does anyone know of a better way to do this?

Technically, HTTP_HOST is set only by browsers which support software
virtual hosts.  [As first generation browsers don't send a Host: header]

Unless you know your server will set HTTP_HOST to null if they don't send
the header [mine won't -- an old Netscape Enterprise 3.0 server], you'd be
better off checking something that's more likely to be there:

	REMOTE_ADDR
	REQUEST_METHOD
	SERVER_NAME
	SERVER_PROTOCOL

Personally, I go with REMOTE_ADDR, as it's needed for the web server to
reply back to the browser.

-----
Joe Hourcle