Codeigniter & PHP - forcing a 404?

Question

In codeigniter, as you know, a page of the form: /class/function/ID, where class is the controller name, function is the method within the controller, and ID is

Answer 1

try using this

set_status_header(404);

Answer 2

If you want a custom error page you can do the following thing.In your Libraries create a file name MY_Exceptions and extend it with CI_Exceptions.And then override the show_404() function.In this function you can now create an instance of your Controller class using &get_instance() function.And using this instance you can load your custom 404 Error page.

class MY_Exceptions extends CI_Exceptions {

public function __construct(){
    parent::__construct();
}

function show_404($page = ''){ // error page logic

    header("HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found");
    $heading = "404 Page Not Found";
    $message = "The page you requested was not found ";
    $CI =& get_instance();
    $CI->load->view('/*Name of you custom 404 error page.*/');

}