Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a application based protocol or set of rules used to transfer files such as text, image, graphics, audio, video and other multimedia files on the World Wide Web. It sets the guidelines on how files and messages are set up and transmitted, and how web servers and browsers should act in response to various instructions. HTTP standards were developed and released as a result of a collaborative effort between the World Wide Web Consortium and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). HTTP 1.1 is the current version in use today.

Let’s take the example of information exchange between a browser and a server. The browser is the client and the server is an application or software placed on a remote computer. The exchange of information between the two requires requests sent by the client and responses from the server.  These exchange operations, either request or response, comprise of the following three parts:

  • Response or request line
  • Header information
  • Body

Request methods

HTTP has specified eight techniques to specify the required action to be carried out on the requested resource. The request methods are:

  • HEAD : asks for response similar to the GET request, however without the response body.
  • GET: requests a depiction of the resource.
  • POST: sends data to be processed to the resource.
  • PUT: uploads a depiction of the resource.
  • DELETE: deletes the resource.
  • TRACE: resounds the received request so that the client can figure out what intermediate servers are involved
  • OPTIONS: returns the HTTP techniques that the server supports for the URL.
  • CONNECT: alters the request connection to a transparent TCP/IP tunnel.

There are a number of HTTP response status codes. Click here to view the complete listing.