HTTP defines a set ofrequest 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 asHTTP verbs.Each request method has its own semantics, but some characteristics are shared across multiple methods, specifically request methods can besafe,idempotent, orcacheable.

GET

TheGET method requests a representation of the specified resource.Requests usingGET should only retrieve data and should not contain a requestcontent.

HEAD

TheHEAD method asks for a response identical to aGET request, but without a response body.

POST

ThePOST method submits an entity to the specified resource, often causing a change in state or side effects on the server.

PUT

ThePUT method replaces all current representations of the target resource with the requestcontent.

DELETE

TheDELETE method deletes the specified resource.

CONNECT

TheCONNECT method establishes a tunnel to the server identified by the target resource.

OPTIONS

TheOPTIONS method describes the communication options for the target resource.

TRACE

TheTRACE method performs a message loop-back test along the path to the target resource.

PATCH

ThePATCH 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.

*POST andPATCH are cacheable when responses explicitly includefreshness information and a matchingContent-Location header.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• HTTP response status codes
• HTTP headers