Full URI in internal 301 redirect

..or is a forward slash OK?

[MrWumpus]

If I do a 301 redirect in PHP on my own site that merely redirects to the root homepage, must I specify the full URI as in "Location: hxxp://www.mysite.com/" or can I use "Location: /"?

My main concern was how the search engines would behave and whether they required "Location: /" to always be a full URI even when it's happening on my site.

[g1smd]

You need the full URI.

However, redirecting to the root can be a bad idea in many circumstances, especially when it is a large number of pages.

[webmasterworld.com...] [webmasterworld.com...]

Don't forget to also send the HTTP 301 Header before sending the Location header.