can i remove the X-Requested-With header from ajax requests?

The solution for removing the header in jQuery proposed by @vamp is on the right track, but as others have stated it will still result in an empty X-Requested-With header being sent.

The beforeSend callback receives jQuery's XHR object (jqXHR), rather than the actual XMLHttpRequest object (xhr), which is not even instantiated until after beforeSend is called.

The setRequestHeader method in jqXHR adds headers to an object, which is then iterated later using the xhr method of the same name, just after adding the X-Requested-With entry to the headers object.

Here's the part in jQuery where this is happening:

if ( !options.crossDomain && !headers["X-Requested-With"] ) {    headers["X-Requested-With"] = "XMLHttpRequest";}for ( i in headers ) {    xhr.setRequestHeader( i, headers[ i ] );}

Which leads to the problem: If you don't specify the X-Requested-With header, then jQuery will (unless the crossDomain setting evaluates false, but that may not be the desired solution). It then immediately sets the xhr headers, which can not be unset.

To prevent sending the X-Requested-With header with jQuery.ajax:

jQuery.ajax provides a setting, xhr, which overrides jQuery's built-in factory method for creating the XMLHttpRequest object. By wrapping this factory method, and then wrapping the browser's native setRequestHeader method, the call from jQuery to set the X-Requested-With header can be ignored.

jQuery.ajax({    url: yourAjaxUrl,    // 'xhr' option overrides jQuery's default    // factory for the XMLHttpRequest object.    // Use either in global settings or individual call as shown here.    xhr: function() {        // Get new xhr object using default factory        var xhr = jQuery.ajaxSettings.xhr();        // Copy the browser's native setRequestHeader method        var setRequestHeader = xhr.setRequestHeader;        // Replace with a wrapper        xhr.setRequestHeader = function(name, value) {            // Ignore the X-Requested-With header            if (name == 'X-Requested-With') return;            // Otherwise call the native setRequestHeader method            // Note: setRequestHeader requires its 'this' to be the xhr object,            // which is what 'this' is here when executed.            setRequestHeader.call(this, name, value);        }        // pass it on to jQuery        return xhr;    },    success: function(data, textStatus, jqXHR) {        // response from request without X-Requested-With header!    }    // etc...});

why not?try:

(function(){    $.ajaxSettings.beforeSend=function(xhr){        xhr.setRequestHeader('X-Requested-With', {toString: function(){ return ''; }});    };})(jQuery);

good luck!

To do this with jQuery, set your request as cross-domain. Example:

server.php

<?='<pre>'.print_r($_SERVER,1);?>

client.js

$.ajax({ url: 'server.php', crossDomain: true }).success(function(r){document.write(r)})