HTTP Request and Response Headers Fields

Introduction

According to MDN:

HTTP headers let the client and the server pass additional information with an HTTP request or response. An HTTP header consists of its case-insensitive name followed by a colon (:), then by its value. Whitespace before the value is ignored.

According to Wikipedia:

HTTP header fields are a list of strings sent and received by both the client program and server on every HTTP request and response. These headers are usually invisible to the end-user and are only processed or logged by the server and client applications.

Headers can be grouped by their contexts:

• Request Headers are sent by the client to the server.
  • Provides information about the request being made to the server.
• Response Headers are sent by the server to the client.
  • Provides information about the response being sent to the client.
• Representation Headers are sent by the server to the client.
  • Provides information about the body of the request, or payload.
  • Could include MIME types.
• Payload Headers are sent by the server to the client.
  • Provides information about the body of the request, or payload.

Standard Header Fields

• Accept
  • Description: Media types that are acceptable for the response.
  • Example: Accept: text/html,application/json
• Location
  • Description: Used in redirection, or when a new resource has been created.
  • Example: Location: https://example.com

Common Non-Standard Header Fields

• X-Content-Duration
  • Description: The duration of the content in seconds.
  • Example: X-Content-Duration: 42

Discovered Non-Standard Header Fields

• X-Forwarded-For
  • Description: The IP address of the client or last proxy that sent the request.
  • Example: X-Forwarded-For: 69.42.0.0

References

Web Links

• HTTP Headers (from developer.mozilla.org (MDN))
• List of HTTP header fields (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)"

Note Links