HTTP Methods GET vs POST
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 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 query strings (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:
The POST Method
Note that query strings (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:
Compare GET vs. POST
The following table compares the two HTTP methods: GET and 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:
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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