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Stop Browser Caching using Meta Tags

Browsers typically cache the page it has visited to save on bandwidth and load time. This means that when you hit the back button, the browser will use its locally stored page instead of requesting the page again from the server.



You may not want browsers to cache pages in several instances such as for online forms where credit card or personal details are viewable. Another instance is when you’re trying to password protect web pages when using scripts such as Simple Authorization Script.
To stop browsers from storing a version of your web page in its cache, use the meta tag, Pragma:No-Cache, that is,

<meta http-equiv="PRAGMA" content="NO-CACHE">
This meta tag needs to be included between the head tags of your html page.
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="PRAGMA" content="NO-CACHE">
</head>
<body>


Unfortunately, the Pragma:No-Cache meta tag is not 100% bug free. Work arounds are needed for Internet Explorer and Internet Explorer 5 as its caching mechanism is a little “special” and extra code is required.

Work Around for Internet Explorer

For Internet Explorer, you would need to add another set of head tags that contains the Pragma:No-
Cache meta tag between </body> and </html>. This means you would have 2 sets of head tags, one at the top of the page and one at the bottom of the page.

<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="PRAGMA" content="NO-CACHE">
</head>
<body>

AND
</body>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="PRAGMA" content="NO-CACHE">
</head>
</html>


Work Around for Internet Explorer 5

For Internet Explorer 5, you would need to add an additional Expire:-1 meta tag, that is, <meta http-equiv=”EXPIRES” content=”-1″> along with the Pragma:No-Cache meta tag. Both meta tags need to be included at the top and bottom of the page as with the work around for Internet Explorer.
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="PRAGMA" content="NO-CACHE">
<meta http-equiv="EXPIRES" content="-1">
</head>
<body>

AND
</body>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="PRAGMA" content="NO-CACHE">
<meta http-equiv="EXPIRES" content="-1">
</head>