# File lib/cgi.rb, line 539
  def header(options = "text/html")

    buf = ""

    case options
    when String
      options = { "type" => options }
    when Hash
      options = options.dup
    end

    unless options.has_key?("type")
      options["type"] = "text/html"
    end

    if options.has_key?("charset")
      options["type"] += "; charset=" + options.delete("charset")
    end

    options.delete("nph") if defined?(MOD_RUBY)
    if options.delete("nph") or
        (/IIS\/(\d+)/n.match(env_table['SERVER_SOFTWARE']) and $1.to_i < 5)
      buf += (env_table["SERVER_PROTOCOL"] or "HTTP/1.0")  + " " +
             (HTTP_STATUS[options["status"]] or options["status"] or "200 OK") +
             EOL +
             "Date: " + CGI::rfc1123_date(Time.now) + EOL

      unless options.has_key?("server")
        options["server"] = (env_table['SERVER_SOFTWARE'] or "")
      end

      unless options.has_key?("connection")
        options["connection"] = "close"
      end

      options.delete("status")
    end

    if options.has_key?("status")
      buf += "Status: " +
             (HTTP_STATUS[options["status"]] or options["status"]) + EOL
      options.delete("status")
    end

    if options.has_key?("server")
      buf += "Server: " + options.delete("server") + EOL
    end

    if options.has_key?("connection")
      buf += "Connection: " + options.delete("connection") + EOL
    end

    buf += "Content-Type: " + options.delete("type") + EOL

    if options.has_key?("length")
      buf += "Content-Length: " + options.delete("length").to_s + EOL
    end

    if options.has_key?("language")
      buf += "Content-Language: " + options.delete("language") + EOL
    end

    if options.has_key?("expires")
      buf += "Expires: " + CGI::rfc1123_date( options.delete("expires") ) + EOL
    end

    if options.has_key?("cookie")
      if options["cookie"].kind_of?(String) or
           options["cookie"].kind_of?(Cookie)
        buf += "Set-Cookie: " + options.delete("cookie").to_s + EOL
      elsif options["cookie"].kind_of?(Array)
        options.delete("cookie").each{|cookie|
          buf += "Set-Cookie: " + cookie.to_s + EOL
        }
      elsif options["cookie"].kind_of?(Hash)
        options.delete("cookie").each_value{|cookie|
          buf += "Set-Cookie: " + cookie.to_s + EOL
        }
      end
    end
    if @output_cookies
      for cookie in @output_cookies
        buf += "Set-Cookie: " + cookie.to_s + EOL
      end
    end

    options.each{|key, value|
      buf += key + ": " + value.to_s + EOL
    }

    if defined?(MOD_RUBY)
      table = Apache::request.headers_out
      buf.scan(/([^:]+): (.+)#{EOL}/n){ |name, value|
        warn sprintf("name:%s value:%s\n", name, value) if $DEBUG
        case name
        when 'Set-Cookie'
          table.add(name, value)
        when /^status$/ni
          Apache::request.status_line = value
          Apache::request.status = value.to_i
        when /^content-type$/ni
          Apache::request.content_type = value
        when /^content-encoding$/ni
          Apache::request.content_encoding = value
        when /^location$/ni
          if Apache::request.status == 200
            Apache::request.status = 302
          end
          Apache::request.headers_out[name] = value
        else
          Apache::request.headers_out[name] = value
        end
      }
      Apache::request.send_http_header
      ''
    else
      buf + EOL
    end

  end