HTTP Requests and Response

An HTTP request consists of a request method, a request URL, header fields, and a body. HTTP 1.1 defines the following request methods:

GET: Retrieves the resource identified by the request URL HEAD: Returns the headers identified by the request URL POST: Sends data of unlimited length to the Web server PUT: Stores a resource under the request URL DELETE: Removes the resource identified by the request URL OPTIONS: Returns the HTTP methods the server supports TRACE: Returns the header fields sent with the TRACE request

HTTP 1.0 includes only the GET, HEAD, and POST methods.

An HTTP response contains a result code, header fields, and a body. The HTTP protocol expects the result code and all header fields to be returned before any body content.

Some commonly used status codes include the following:

404: Indicates that the requested resource is not available 401: Indicates that the request requires HTTP authentication 500: Indicates an error inside the HTTP server which prevented it from fulfilling the request 503: Indicates that the HTTP server is temporarily overloaded, and unable to handle the request

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