PHP and 404

Does anyone know of a way to have PHP spit out a 404 code error that will be recognized be the SEs? I know I can have PHP output a 404 error that is readable by the humans, but I also want to be able to have it understood by the SEs. I was curious does anyone know about this or where to find info on this?

 

don't know if this is exactly what you are looking for but

header("Status: 404 Not Found");

PHP:

This will return the proper status IIRC.

 

A 404 is a 404 to SE's.

 

I understand a 404 is a 404, but then I guess what I am producing is not truely a 404. On the other hand, I think what palespyder said makes sense, since I can use the header() function as long as I have not output stuff to the browser. But the header function will still allow me to do the human nice stuff.

Thanks much

 

I used it, and it did what I wanted, thank you.

 

No problem danpadams, glad I actually posted something helpful