will PHP header() & exit() securely terminate a script before redirecting?
<p>Is the following a secure way of protecting a user only area?   </p>

<pre><code>if(!isset($_SESSION['username'])){redirect(SITE_ROOT . 'st_pages/login/');}
</code></pre>

<p>using:</p>

<pre><code>function redirect($url)
    {
        header('Location: ' . $url);
        exit('&lt;a href="' . $url . '"&gt;Redirecting you to: ' . $url . '&lt;/a&gt;');
    }
</code></pre>
