Speeding up a PHP function

[ocon]

I have a PHP page that loads a variable, performs some modifications to this variable, and seamlessly redirects the user to a new page.

<?php
$var=$_GET["variable"];
$var=strtolower($var);
header("Location: http://www.example.com/folder/".$var);
?>

Now, I want to add some advanced lookups with APIs for other websites and internal logging into MySQL. I put that in a seperate PHP file and set an include function.

<?php
$var=$_GET["variable"];
$var=strtolower($var);
include("/otherscripts.php?var=".$var);
header("Location: http://www.example.com/folder/".$var);
?>

The problem is, that makes the script take longer, as the script has to run through otherscripts.php and finish processing that file before redirecting the user. I can't bump up the header function over the include, or it wouldn't work properly.

Is there a way I can tell the PHP code to go start that, but not wait for any returns, just hurry up and finish waits on your plate?

[rocknbil]

Look into fork() or if the extension is installed, pcntl_fork().

Spawn a child process for the include work, return immediate response in parent process.