diff --git a/actionpack/CHANGELOG.md b/actionpack/CHANGELOG.md
index 608512d846..bdc0fbe01a 100644
--- a/actionpack/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/actionpack/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+* Add `redirect_back` method to `ActionController::Redirecting` to provide a
+ way to safely redirect to the `HTTP_REFERER` if it is present, falling back
+ to a provided redirect otherwise.
+
+ *Derek Prior*
+
* `ActionController::TestCase` will be moved to it's own gem in Rails 5.1
With the speed improvements made to `ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest` we no
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal/redirecting.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal/redirecting.rb
index 0febc905f1..72ceb9a5bc 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal/redirecting.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal/redirecting.rb
@@ -75,6 +75,29 @@ module ActionController
self.response_body = "You are being redirected."
end
+ # Redirects the browser to the page that issued the request if possible,
+ # otherwise redirects to provided default fallback location.
+ #
+ # This avoids the ActionController::RedirectBackError that can
+ # occur if the request has no associated HTTP_REFERER.
+ #
+ # redirect_back fallback_location: { action: "show", id: 5 }
+ # redirect_back fallback_location: post
+ # redirect_back fallback_location: "http://www.rubyonrails.org"
+ # redirect_back fallback_location: "/images/screenshot.jpg"
+ # redirect_back fallback_location: articles_url
+ # redirect_back fallback_location: proc { edit_post_url(@post) }
+ #
+ # All options that can be passed to redirect_to are accepted as
+ # options and the behavior is indetical.
+ def redirect_back(fallback_location:, **args)
+ if referer = request.headers["Referer"]
+ redirect_to referer, **args
+ else
+ redirect_to fallback_location, **args
+ end
+ end
+
def _compute_redirect_to_location(request, options) #:nodoc:
case options
# The scheme name consist of a letter followed by any combination of
diff --git a/actionpack/test/controller/redirect_test.rb b/actionpack/test/controller/redirect_test.rb
index 631ff7d02a..28ff1f36cf 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/controller/redirect_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/controller/redirect_test.rb
@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@ class RedirectController < ActionController::Base
redirect_to :back, :status => 307
end
+ def redirect_back_with_status
+ redirect_back(fallback_location: "/things/stuff", status: 307)
+ end
+
def host_redirect
redirect_to :action => "other_host", :only_path => false, :host => 'other.test.host'
end
@@ -248,6 +252,23 @@ class RedirectTest < ActionController::TestCase
}
end
+ def test_redirect_back
+ referer = "http://www.example.com/coming/from"
+ @request.env["HTTP_REFERER"] = referer
+
+ get :redirect_back_with_status
+
+ assert_response 307
+ assert_equal referer, redirect_to_url
+ end
+
+ def test_redirect_back_with_no_referer
+ get :redirect_back_with_status
+
+ assert_response 307
+ assert_equal "http://test.host/things/stuff", redirect_to_url
+ end
+
def test_redirect_to_record
with_routing do |set|
set.draw do
diff --git a/guides/source/action_controller_overview.md b/guides/source/action_controller_overview.md
index 7e43ba375a..6c622a3643 100644
--- a/guides/source/action_controller_overview.md
+++ b/guides/source/action_controller_overview.md
@@ -1150,7 +1150,7 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
def user_not_authorized
flash[:error] = "You don't have access to this section."
- redirect_to :back
+ redirect_back(fallback_location: root_path)
end
end
diff --git a/guides/source/layouts_and_rendering.md b/guides/source/layouts_and_rendering.md
index 71cc030f6a..779ba6e5e5 100644
--- a/guides/source/layouts_and_rendering.md
+++ b/guides/source/layouts_and_rendering.md
@@ -628,6 +628,14 @@ You can use `redirect_to` with any arguments that you could use with `link_to` o
redirect_to :back
```
+This will raise `ActionController::RedirectBackError` if the request had no
+`HTTP_REFERER` information set. To guard against this case, you can provide a
+fall back redirect URL by using `redirect_back`:
+
+```ruby
+redirect_back(fallback_location: root_path)
+```
+
#### Getting a Different Redirect Status Code
Rails uses HTTP status code 302, a temporary redirect, when you call `redirect_to`. If you'd like to use a different status code, perhaps 301, a permanent redirect, you can use the `:status` option: