difference b/w forward & sendRedirect

[tilak kumar]

What is the difference between RequestDispatcher.forward(request req,response res)
And response.sencRedirect("url");?

[Ben Souther]

Send redirect sends a "location" header to the browser.
The browser then initiates a new request.

Browser requests page A

Server says go look for B

Browser requests B

Server returns page B

The browser knows that it is showing page B.
The address window will have the URL for page B.


With forward, the whole process occurs on the server.

Browser requests page A

Server returns page B

As far as the browser knows, its looking at page A.
The address window in the browser will show the url
for page A.

Forward should be a little faster because it doesn't involve the extra round trip (small difference, a redirect only returns the headers). It's useful in an MVC pattern when you want to forward to a JSP (or other web resource) that you wouldn't want the user trying to access directly.

There are other advantages and disadvantages to both.
[ March 22, 2005: Message edited by: Ben Souther ]

[Poobhathy Kannan]

In addition to ben

Redirects can redirect the request off of the local server as well, but forward works only on local server.

[kri shan]

Using RequestDispatcher.forward(request req,response res), can i forward to antoher server (or) within the same server?

[Sarath Mohan]

Hi Kri,

You can forwad only to resource available in your current web application.