HTTP-methods.md

HTTP methods

HTTP methods indicate the desired action to be performed on the identified resource.

Method	Idempotent	Safe	Body
GET	yes	yes	no
SEARCH (proposed)	yes	yes	yes
POST	no	no	yes
PUT	yes	no	yes
PATCH	no	no	yes
DELETE	yes	no	no

• Idempotent - request has no additional effect, if it is called more than once
• Safe - request doesn't change server state
• Body - request can contain body, that can affect response

Safe methods can be cached by intermediates.

Other methods

• OPTIONS requests available HTTP methods on the requested resource
• HEAD requests resource headers (= GET without response body)
• TRACE requests to echo the received request

If a method is unknown to an intermediate, it will be treated as an unsafe and non-idempotent method.