How to redirect to a route from a controller method

I have defined a method in my controller, where inputs are first retrieved, and if the email field is present in my database, I would like to return a view. However, if the email field isn't present, I would like to redirect to another route. I would also like to pass in the inputs to that route as well.

To better understand what I mean, my code is as follows for my controller:

    public function index(Request $request) {

    $credentials = $request->all();

    if (\App\User::where('email','=',$credentials['email'])->exists()){

        //if they are registered, return VIEW called welcome, with inputs

        return view('welcome', $credentials);

    }
    else{//If the user is not in the database, redirect to '/profile' route,
         //but also send their data

        return redirect('profile', $credentials);

    }

And my web.php is as follows:

Route::post('/profile', function() {
     $m = Request::only('email'); //I only need the email
     return view('profile', $m);
});

However, this logic fails with errors: 'HTTP status code '1' is not defined'. Is there anyway to do this properly? (i.e. go from my controller method to another route?)

via Chebli Mohamed