Web-enabled databases with Perl and DBI | ||
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Prev | Appendix E. HTTP cheat sheet |
The GET method means retrieve whatever information is identified by the request URI. If the request URI refers to a data-producing process (eg a CGI program), it is the produced data which is returned, and not the source text of the process.
The HEAD method is identical to GET except that the server will only return the headers, not the body of the resource. The meta-information contained in the HTTP headers in response to a HEAD request should be identical to the information sent in response to a GET request. This method can be used to obtain meta-information about the resource without transferring the body itself.
The POST method is used to request that the server use the information encoded in the request URI and use it to modify a resource such as:
Annotation of an existing resource
Posting a message to a bulletin board, newsgroup, mailing list, or similar group of articles
Providing data {such as the result of submitting a form} to a data-handling process
Updating a database