Title: wp_get_raw_referer
Published: April 12, 2016
Last modified: May 20, 2026

---

# wp_get_raw_referer(): string|false

## In this article

 * [Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_raw_referer/?output_format=md#description)
 * [Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_raw_referer/?output_format=md#return)
 * [Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_raw_referer/?output_format=md#source)
 * [Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_raw_referer/?output_format=md#related)
 * [Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_raw_referer/?output_format=md#changelog)

[ Back to top](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_raw_referer/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

Retrieves unvalidated referer from the ‘_wp_http_referer’ URL query variable or 
the HTTP referer.

## 󠀁[Description](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_raw_referer/?output_format=md#description)󠁿

If the value of the ‘_wp_http_referer’ URL query variable is not a string then it
will be ignored.

Do not use for redirects, use [wp_get_referer()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_referer/)
instead.

## 󠀁[Return](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_raw_referer/?output_format=md#return)󠁿

 string|false Referer URL on success, false on failure.

## 󠀁[Source](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_raw_referer/?output_format=md#source)󠁿

    ```php
    function wp_get_raw_referer() {
    	if ( ! empty( $_REQUEST['_wp_http_referer'] ) && is_string( $_REQUEST['_wp_http_referer'] ) ) {
    		return wp_unslash( $_REQUEST['_wp_http_referer'] );
    	} elseif ( ! empty( $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] ) ) {
    		return wp_unslash( $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] );
    	}

    	return false;
    }
    ```

[View all references](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/files/wp-includes/functions.php/)
[View on Trac](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/7.0/src/wp-includes/functions.php#L2003)
[View on GitHub](https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/blob/7.0/src/wp-includes/functions.php#L2003-L2011)

## 󠀁[Related](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_raw_referer/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

| Uses | Description | 
| [wp_unslash()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_unslash/)`wp-includes/formatting.php` |

Removes slashes from a string or recursively removes slashes from strings within an array.

  |

| Used by | Description | 
| [wp_get_referer()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_referer/)`wp-includes/functions.php` |

Retrieves referer from ‘_wp_http_referer’ or HTTP referer.

  | 
| [get_the_password_form()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_the_password_form/)`wp-includes/post-template.php` |

Retrieves protected post password form content.

  |

## 󠀁[Changelog](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_get_raw_referer/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

| Version | Description | 
| [4.5.0](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/since/4.5.0/) | Introduced. |

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