Headers: Refresh

Refresh header

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

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See full compatibility

The HTTP Refresh response header directs a web browser to either refresh or redirect the page when a specified amount of time has passed after the page was fully loaded. It is exactly equivalent to using <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="..."> in HTML.

Note: Even though it's present in the HTTP response, the Refresh header is still handled by the HTML loading machinery and happens after HTTP or JavaScript redirects. See redirection order of precedence for more information.

Note: When a refresh redirects to a new page, the Referer header is included in the request for the new page (if permitted by the Referrer-Policy), and document.referrer is set to the referrer URL after navigating.

Header type	Response header

Syntax

Refresh: <time>
Refresh: <time>, url=<url>
Refresh: <time>; url=<url>

<time>: A non-negative number of seconds after which to refresh the page. Fractional parts are recognized but ignored; you should only specify integers.
<url> Optional: If present, the browser will redirect to the specified URL instead of refreshing with the current URL. This URL can be quoted or unquoted. The url= prefix is case-insensitive and optional.

Examples

Refreshing a page after a specific time

This header will cause the browser to refresh the page 5 seconds after it is fully loaded (that is, after the load event):

Refresh: 5

Redirecting after a specific time

This header will cause the browser to redirect to the a URL 5 seconds after the page is fully loaded:

Refresh: 5; url=https://example.com/

Note: See the http-equiv="refresh" attribute in the HTML reference for important information about accessibility implications of automatic redirects.

Specifications

Specification
HTML> # the-refresh-header>

Browser compatibility

	Desktop					Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Opera	Safari	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on IOS	Samsung Internet	WebView Android	WebView on iOS
`Refresh`	1	12	1 From version 136 the HTTP `Referer` header is sent following a refresh that redirects to another page (if permitted)	≤12.1	1	18	4 From version 136 the HTTP `Referer` header is sent following a refresh that redirects to another page (if permitted)	≤12.1	1	1.0	4.4	1