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Ten Widely Used HTTP Headers

HTTP

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Sat Oct 09 2021

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2 min read

Pratham

Pratham

Client and server can pass the extra bit of information with the request and response using HTTP headers.

The HTTP headers are divided into four categories:

  1. Request headers: Client to Server
  2. Response headers: Server to Client
  3. Representation headers: Information about the body of the resource
  4. Payload headers: Information about the payload data

Let's talk about ten widely used HTTP Headers:

Accept

Accept header is used when the client wants to inform the server about the type of data that the client can understand.

For example,

json
Accept: image/png

Accept-Encoding

The Accept-Encoding header is usually attached with a request to the server, indicating which encoding method is understandable by the client.

For example,

json
Accept-Encoding: gzip

Authorization

As the header name suggests, the Authorization request header is used to pass the credentials so that the server can authenticate the client.

For example,

json
Authorization: Basic dgfhWUytzgdfhgSYG

Accept-Language

The Accept-Language request header is used to describe which language is understood by the client.

For example,

json
Accept-Language: en-US

Content-Type

Content-Type representational header specifies the media type of the resource. This header indicates the content type of the returned data when the client didn't mention any content encoding.

For example,

json
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

Content-Location

Content-Location header indicates the alternate location for the response. It is used when an API can return data in different formats depending on the Accept header.

For example,

json
Content-Location: /examples/foo.json
Content-Location: /examples/foo.xml

Content-Encoding

The Content-Encoding header is used to compress the message data or payload.

For example,

json
Content-Encoding: gzip

Content-Length

As the header name suggests, it indicates the size of the resource or message body in bytes. It can be used with both request and response.

For example,

json
Content-Length: 148

Content-Language

Content-Language indicates the human logical language of the response. This header is used to deliver resources in multiple languages so that users can choose their preferred language.

For example,

json
Content-Language: en-US

Cache-Control

Cache-Control header is used as a caching mechanism for both the request and response. There are several directives(values) that we can pass with this header.

For example,

json
Cache-Control: max-age
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