A REST resource enables access to data, but doesn’t in itself do anything with that data. To use a REST resource, we have to pass along instructions about what action we want to perform. This is done using HTTP methods, also called verbs. Anytime you use a web browser, you or rather the browser use HTTP methods to tell the server at the other end of the URL what type of request is being sent.

GET

  • Get resource.
  • By far the most common of these methods is Get which literally means get what’s at the end of this address and send it to me.
  • Anytime you visit a web page or follow a link or click reload or forward or back or any other standard interaction in a browser, you are sending a get request over HTTP. 

POST

  • Create new resources.
  • Post is the most common of these methods and it’s also the one used in regular non-REST scenarios like when you submit a form on a web page. 

PUT

  • Used to update data at an existing resource by replacing all of its contents with the contents of the new request.
  • A put request contains the ID of the resource and the new content to be added to that resource.
  • If the resource already exists, the existing content is replaced with the contents of the Put request.
  • If no resource exists, the REST server may allow a new resource to be created with the user defined ID.

PATCH

  • Patch is used to modify an existing resource.
  • Where Put updates the resource by replacing content, Patch can carry along instructions on how to modify the existing resource without necessarily replacing everything.

DELETE

  • It deletes the specified resource.
  • Delete can only be used with singleton resources. If you try to delete a collection resource, you’ll get a 405 Method Not Allowed statusbecause you should not be able to delete everything at once

OPTIONS

  • Returns a description of the communication options for the target resource.

HEAD

  • Returns just the head section of that response
Last modified: March 17, 2019

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