HTTP request methods

HTTP defines a set of request methods to indicate the purpose of the request and what is expected if the request is successful. Although they can also be nouns, these request methods are sometimes referred to as HTTP verbs. Each request method has its own semantics, but some characteristics are shared across multiple methods, specifically request methods can be {{glossary("Safe/HTTP", "safe")}}, {{glossary("idempotent")}}, or {{glossary("cacheable")}}.

• {{HTTPMethod("GET")}}
  • : The GET method requests a representation of the specified resource. Requests using GET should only retrieve data and should not contain a request {{Glossary("HTTP Content", "content")}}.
• {{HTTPMethod("HEAD")}}
  • : The HEAD method asks for a response identical to a GET request, but without a response body.
• {{HTTPMethod("POST")}}
  • : The POST method submits an entity to the specified resource, often causing a change in state or side effects on the server.
• {{HTTPMethod("PUT")}}
  • : The PUT method replaces all current representations of the target resource with the request {{Glossary("HTTP Content", "content")}}.
• {{HTTPMethod("DELETE")}}
  • : The DELETE method deletes the specified resource.
• {{HTTPMethod("CONNECT")}}
  • : The CONNECT method establishes a tunnel to the server identified by the target resource.
• {{HTTPMethod("OPTIONS")}}
  • : The OPTIONS method describes the communication options for the target resource.
• {{HTTPMethod("TRACE")}}
  • : The TRACE method performs a message loop-back test along the path to the target resource.
• {{HTTPMethod("PATCH")}}
  • : The PATCH method applies partial modifications to a resource.

Safe, idempotent, and cacheable request methods

The following table lists HTTP request methods and their categorization in terms of safety, cacheability, and idempotency.

Method	Safe	Idempotent	Cacheable
{{HTTPMethod("GET")}}	Yes	Yes	Yes
{{HTTPMethod("HEAD")}}	Yes	Yes	Yes
{{HTTPMethod("OPTIONS")}}	Yes	Yes	No
{{HTTPMethod("TRACE")}}	Yes	Yes	No
{{HTTPMethod("PUT")}}	No	Yes	No
{{HTTPMethod("DELETE")}}	No	Yes	No
{{HTTPMethod("POST")}}	No	No	Conditional*
{{HTTPMethod("PATCH")}}	No	No	Conditional*
{{HTTPMethod("CONNECT")}}	No	No	No

* POST and PATCH are cacheable when responses explicitly include freshness information and a matching {{HTTPHeader("Content-Location")}} header.

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• HTTP response status codes
• HTTP headers