<script>
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Closing the users browser connection whilst keeping your php script running has been an issue since 4.1, when the behaviour of register_shutdown_function() was modified so that it would not automatically close the users connection.

sts at mail dot xubion dot hu
Posted the original solution:

<?php
header("Connection: close");
ob_start();
phpinfo();
$size=ob_get_length();
header("Content-Length: $size");
ob_end_flush();
flush();
sleep(13);
error_log("do something in the background");
?>

Which works fine until you substitute phpinfo() for
echo ('text I want user to see'); in which case the headers are never sent!

The solution is to explicitly turn off output buffering and clear the buffer prior to sending your header information.

example:

<?php
ob_end_clean();
header("Connection: close");
ignore_user_abort(); // optional
ob_start();
echo ('Text the user will see');
$size = ob_get_length();
header("Content-Length: $size");
ob_end_flush(); // Strange behaviour, will not work
flush(); // Unless both are called !
// Do processing here
sleep(30);
echo('Text user will never see');
?>

Just spent 3 hours trying to figure this one out, hope it helps someone

<!-- put this at the top of the page -->
<?php
$mtime = microtime();
$mtime = explode(" ",$mtime);
$mtime = $mtime[1] + $mtime[0];
$starttime = $mtime;
?>

<!-- put other code and html in here -->


<!-- put this code at the bottom of the page -->
<?php
$mtime = microtime();
$mtime = explode(" ",$mtime);
$mtime = $mtime[1] + $mtime[0];
$endtime = $mtime;
$totaltime = ($endtime - $starttime);
echo "This page was created in ".$totaltime." seconds";
>