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- HTTP Methods: GET vs. POST
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- The two most used HTTP methods are: GET and POST.
- What is HTTP?
- The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is designed to enable communications between clients and servers.
- HTTP works as a request-response protocol between a client and server.
- A web browser may be the client, and an application on a computer that hosts a web site may be the server.
- Example: A client (browser) submits an HTTP request to the server; then the server returns a response to the client. The response contains status information about the request and may also contain the requested content.
- Two HTTP Request Methods: GET and POST
- Two commonly used methods for a request-response between a client and server are: GET and POST.
- GET - Requests data from a specified resource
- POST - Submits data to be processed to a specified resource
- The GET Method
- Note that the query string (name/value pairs) is sent in the URL of a GET request:
- /test/demo_form.asp?name1=value1&name2=value2
- Some other notes on GET requests:
- GET requests can be cached
- GET requests remain in the browser history
- GET requests can be bookmarked
- GET requests should never be used when dealing with sensitive data
- GET requests have length restrictions
- GET requests should be used only to retrieve data
- The POST Method
- Note that the query string (name/value pairs) is sent in the HTTP message body of a POST request:
- POST /test/demo_form.asp HTTP/1.1
- Host: w3schools.com
- name1=value1&name2=value2
- Some other notes on POST requests:
- POST requests are never cached
- POST requests do not remain in the browser history
- POST requests cannot be bookmarked
- POST requests have no restrictions on data length
- Compare GET vs. POST
- The following table compares the two HTTP methods: GET and POST.
- GET POST
- BACK button/Reload Harmless Data will be re-submitted (the browser should alert the user that the data are about to be re-submitted)
- Bookmarked Can be bookmarked Cannot be bookmarked
- Cached Can be cached Not cached
- Encoding type application/x-www-form-urlencoded application/x-www-form-urlencoded or multipart/form-data. Use multipart encoding for binary data
- History Parameters remain in browser history Parameters are not saved in browser history
- Restrictions on data length Yes, when sending data, the GET method adds the data to the URL; and the length of a URL is limited (maximum URL length is 2048 characters) No restrictions
- Restrictions on data type Only ASCII characters allowed No restrictions. Binary data is also allowed
- Security GET is less secure compared to POST because data sent is part of the URL
- Never use GET when sending passwords or other sensitive information! POST is a little safer than GET because the parameters are not stored in browser history or in web server logs
- Visibility Data is visible to everyone in the URL Data is not displayed in the URL
- Other HTTP Request Methods
- The following table lists some other HTTP request methods:
- Method Description
- HEAD Same as GET but returns only HTTP headers and no document body
- PUT Uploads a representation of the specified URI
- DELETE Deletes the specified resource
- OPTIONS Returns the HTTP methods that the server supports
- CONNECT Converts the request connection to a transparent TCP/IP tunnel
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