HTTP requests are primarilly requests sent by the client browser to the web server software. These requests are coded into the packet as plain text. If you can intercept the packets, they are clearly readable. These requests inform the web server what the client is looking for and indicate how the server should go about delivering the content or service requested. Web servers can not only deliver static web pages saved in separate files on the disk but can also deliver dynamically generated content or provide a computer gateway interface (CGI) to programs and services accessible through the web server. The request methods allow the client to discover these capabilities and properly handle binary downloads of images versus ascii downloads of the HTML web pages.
[ OPTIONS ] - [ GET] - [ HEAD ] - [ POST ] - [ PUT ] - [ DELETE ] - [ CONNECT ]
| METHOD | SAFE | IS RESPONSE CACHABLE? |
DESCRIPTION |
| OPTIONS | NO | NO | Used by the client to discover the communication capabilities of the web server without actually retreiving data. This information is not actually a web page, so it shouldn't be placed in the web browser cache. |
| GET | YES | YES | |
| HEAD | YES | YES* |
|
| POST | YES | NO* | |
| PUT | NO | YES | |
| DELETE | NO | NO |
|
| TRACE | |||
| CONNECT | Used to direct web proxies that provide IP security functions (IPsec). This is used to signal the proxy to switch to a secure tunnel connection on TCP virtual port 443 to support HTTPS connections through the proxy. |
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