Referer

The Referer HTTP request header contains the absolute or partial address from which a resource has been requested. The Referer header allows a server to identify referring pages that people are visiting from or where requested resources are being used. This data can be used for analytics, logging, optimized caching, and more.

When you click a link, the Referer contains the address of the page that includes the link. When you make resource requests to another domain, the Referer contains the address of the page that uses the requested resource.

The Referer header can contain an origin, path, and querystring, and may not contain URL fragments (i.e. #section) or username:password information. The request's referrer policy defines the data that can be included. See Referrer-Policy for more information and examples.

Note: The header name "referer" is actually a misspelling of the word "referrer". See HTTP referer on Wikipedia for more details.

Warning: This header may have undesirable consequences for user security and privacy. See Referer header: privacy and security concerns for more information and mitigation hints.

Header type Request header
Forbidden header name yes

Syntax

http
Referer: <url>

Directives

<url>

An absolute or partial address of the web page that makes the request. URL fragments (i.e. #section) and userinfo (i.e. username:password in https\://username:password\@example.com/foo/bar/) are not included. Origin, path, and querystring may be included, depending on the referrer policy.

Examples

http
Referer: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript
Referer: https://example.com/page?q=123
Referer: https://example.com/

Specifications

Specification
HTTP Semantics
# field.referer

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also