Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content
RFC 7231
| Document | Type |
RFC - Proposed Standard
(June 2014; Errata)
Obsoletes RFC 2616
Updates RFC 2817
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Last updated | 2015-10-14 | ||
| Stream | IETF | ||
| Formats | plain text pdf html bibtex | ||
| Stream | WG state | Submitted to IESG for Publication Sep 2013 | |
| Document shepherd | Mark Nottingham | ||
| Shepherd write-up | Show (last changed 2013-10-07) | ||
| IESG | IESG state | RFC 7231 (Proposed Standard) | |
| Consensus Boilerplate | Yes | ||
| Telechat date | |||
| Responsible AD | Barry Leiba | ||
| Send notices to | (None) | ||
| IANA | IANA review state | Version Changed - Review Needed | |
| IANA action state | RFC-Ed-Ack | ||
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) R. Fielding, Ed.
Request for Comments: 7231 Adobe
Obsoletes: 2616 J. Reschke, Ed.
Updates: 2817 greenbytes
Category: Standards Track June 2014
ISSN: 2070-1721
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content
Abstract
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a stateless application-
level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypertext information
systems. This document defines the semantics of HTTP/1.1 messages,
as expressed by request methods, request header fields, response
status codes, and response header fields, along with the payload of
messages (metadata and body content) and mechanisms for content
negotiation.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7231.
Fielding & Reschke Standards Track [Page 1]
RFC 7231 HTTP/1.1 Semantics and Content June 2014
Copyright Notice
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document authors. All rights reserved.
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This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
Contributions published or made publicly available before November
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Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling
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not be created outside the IETF Standards Process, except to format
it for publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other
than English.
Fielding & Reschke Standards Track [Page 2]
RFC 7231 HTTP/1.1 Semantics and Content June 2014
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................6
1.1. Conformance and Error Handling .............................6
1.2. Syntax Notation ............................................6
2. Resources .......................................................7
3. Representations .................................................7
3.1. Representation Metadata ....................................8
3.1.1. Processing Representation Data ......................8
3.1.2. Encoding for Compression or Integrity ..............11
3.1.3. Audience Language ..................................13
3.1.4. Identification .....................................14
3.2. Representation Data .......................................17
3.3. Payload Semantics .........................................17
3.4. Content Negotiation .......................................18
3.4.1. Proactive Negotiation ..............................19
3.4.2. Reactive Negotiation ...............................20
4. Request Methods ................................................21
4.1. Overview ..................................................21
4.2. Common Method Properties ..................................22
4.2.1. Safe Methods .......................................22
4.2.2. Idempotent Methods .................................23
4.2.3. Cacheable Methods ..................................24
4.3. Method Definitions ........................................24
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