# Newbie Question: How can I access the referer

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-question-how-can-i-access-the-referer/55857>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 24, 2006, 10:07am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-question-how-can-i-access-the-referer/55857 "2006-03-24T10:07:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexander)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 10:07am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-question-how-can-i-access-the-referer/55857/1 "2006-03-24T10:07:22Z")

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Just wondering if and how I can access the referer from the controller.  
Thanks in advance

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**Author:** ![alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexander)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 10:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-question-how-can-i-access-the-referer/55857/2 "2006-03-24T10:13:05Z")

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Give this a try:

$HTTP[“referer”]

That should work,

Chris

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**Author:** ![alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexander)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 10:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-question-how-can-i-access-the-referer/55857/3 "2006-03-24T10:28:15Z")

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or in your controller you could use

request\_uri – may need to use @request.request\_uri

and a whold lot of others

[http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionController/AbstractRequest.html#M000153](http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionController/AbstractRequest.html#M000153)

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**Author:** ![alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexander)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 10:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-question-how-can-i-access-the-referer/55857/4 "2006-03-24T10:40:34Z")

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How would I redirect to the referer?

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**Author:** ![alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexander)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 10:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/newbie-question-how-can-i-access-the-referer/55857/5 "2006-03-24T10:41:47Z")

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Alexander wrote:

> How would I redirect to the referer?

Sorry,  
redirect\_to :back  
Works now. Thanks