Net::HTTP

An HTTP client API for Ruby.

Net::HTTP provides a rich library which can be used to build HTTP user-agents. For more details about HTTP see [RFC2616](www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt).

Net::HTTP is designed to work closely with URI. URI::HTTP#host, URI::HTTP#port and URI::HTTP#request_uri are designed to work with Net::HTTP.

If you are only performing a few GET requests you should try OpenURI.

Simple Examples

All examples assume you have loaded Net::HTTP with:

require 'net/http'

This will also require ‘uri’ so you don’t need to require it separately.

The Net::HTTP methods in the following section do not persist connections. They are not recommended if you are performing many HTTP requests.

GET

Net::HTTP.get('example.com', '/index.html') # => String

GET by URI

uri = URI('http://example.com/index.html?count=10')
Net::HTTP.get(uri) # => String

GET with Dynamic Parameters

uri = URI('http://example.com/index.html')
params = { :limit => 10, :page => 3 }
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

res = Net::HTTP.get_response(uri)
puts res.body if res.is_a?(Net::HTTPSuccess)

POST

uri = URI('http://www.example.com/search.cgi')
res = Net::HTTP.post_form(uri, 'q' => 'ruby', 'max' => '50')
puts res.body

POST with Multiple Values

uri = URI('http://www.example.com/search.cgi')
res = Net::HTTP.post_form(uri, 'q' => ['ruby', 'perl'], 'max' => '50')
puts res.body

How to use Net::HTTP

The following example code can be used as the basis of an HTTP user-agent which can perform a variety of request types using persistent connections.

uri = URI('http://example.com/some_path?query=string')

Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port) do |http|
  request = Net::HTTP::Get.new uri

  response = http.request request # Net::HTTPResponse object
end

Net::HTTP::start immediately creates a connection to an HTTP server which is kept open for the duration of the block. The connection will remain open for multiple requests in the block if the server indicates it supports persistent connections.

If you wish to re-use a connection across multiple HTTP requests without automatically closing it you can use ::new and then call start and finish manually.

The request types Net::HTTP supports are listed below in the section “HTTP Request Classes”.

For all the Net::HTTP request objects and shortcut request methods you may supply either a String for the request path or a URI from which Net::HTTP will extract the request path.

Response Data

uri = URI('http://example.com/index.html')
res = Net::HTTP.get_response(uri)

# Headers
res['Set-Cookie']            # => String
res.get_fields('set-cookie') # => Array
res.to_hash['set-cookie']    # => Array
puts "Headers: #{res.to_hash.inspect}"

# Status
puts res.code       # => '200'
puts res.message    # => 'OK'
puts res.class.name # => 'HTTPOK'

# Body
puts res.body if res.response_body_permitted?

Following Redirection

Each Net::HTTPResponse object belongs to a class for its response code.

For example, all 2XX responses are instances of a Net::HTTPSuccess subclass, a 3XX response is an instance of a Net::HTTPRedirection subclass and a 200 response is an instance of the Net::HTTPOK class. For details of response classes, see the section “HTTP Response Classes” below.

Using a case statement you can handle various types of responses properly:

def fetch(uri_str, limit = 10)
  # You should choose a better exception.
  raise ArgumentError, 'too many HTTP redirects' if limit == 0

  response = Net::HTTP.get_response(URI(uri_str))

  case response
  when Net::HTTPSuccess then
    response
  when Net::HTTPRedirection then
    location = response['location']
    warn "redirected to #{location}"
    fetch(location, limit - 1)
  else
    response.value
  end
end

print fetch('http://www.ruby-lang.org')

POST

A POST can be made using the Net::HTTP::Post request class. This example creates a URL encoded POST body:

uri = URI('http://www.example.com/todo.cgi')
req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri)
req.set_form_data('from' => '2005-01-01', 'to' => '2005-03-31')

res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port) do |http|
  http.request(req)
end

case res
when Net::HTTPSuccess, Net::HTTPRedirection
  # OK
else
  res.value
end

To send multipart/form-data use Net::HTTPHeader#set_form:

req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri)
req.set_form([['upload', File.open('foo.bar')]], 'multipart/form-data')

Other requests that can contain a body such as PUT can be created in the same way using the corresponding request class (Net::HTTP::Put).

Setting Headers

The following example performs a conditional GET using the If-Modified-Since header. If the files has not been modified since the time in the header a Not Modified response will be returned. See RFC 2616 section 9.3 for further details.

uri = URI('http://example.com/cached_response')
file = File.stat 'cached_response'

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
req['If-Modified-Since'] = file.mtime.rfc2822

res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port) {|http|
  http.request(req)
}

open 'cached_response', 'w' do |io|
  io.write res.body
end if res.is_a?(Net::HTTPSuccess)

Basic Authentication

Basic authentication is performed according to [RFC2617](www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2617.txt).

uri = URI('http://example.com/index.html?key=value')

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
req.basic_auth 'user', 'pass'

res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port) {|http|
  http.request(req)
}
puts res.body

Streaming Response Bodies

By default Net::HTTP reads an entire response into memory. If you are handling large files or wish to implement a progress bar you can instead stream the body directly to an IO.

uri = URI('http://example.com/large_file')

Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port) do |http|
  request = Net::HTTP::Get.new uri

  http.request request do |response|
    open 'large_file', 'w' do |io|
      response.read_body do |chunk|
        io.write chunk
      end
    end
  end
end

HTTPS

HTTPS is enabled for an HTTP connection by Net::HTTP#use_ssl=.

uri = URI('https://secure.example.com/some_path?query=string')

Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port, :use_ssl => true) do |http|
  request = Net::HTTP::Get.new uri
  response = http.request request # Net::HTTPResponse object
end

Or if you simply want to make a GET request, you may pass in an URI object that has an HTTPS URL. Net::HTTP automatically turns on TLS verification if the URI object has a ‘https’ URI scheme.

uri = URI('https://example.com/')
Net::HTTP.get(uri) # => String

In previous versions of Ruby you would need to require ‘net/https’ to use HTTPS. This is no longer true.

Proxies

Net::HTTP will automatically create a proxy from the http_proxy environment variable if it is present. To disable use of http_proxy, pass nil for the proxy address.

You may also create a custom proxy:

proxy_addr = 'your.proxy.host'
proxy_port = 8080

Net::HTTP.new('example.com', nil, proxy_addr, proxy_port).start { |http|
  # always proxy via your.proxy.addr:8080
}

See Net::HTTP.new for further details and examples such as proxies that require a username and password.

Compression

Net::HTTP automatically adds Accept-Encoding for compression of response bodies and automatically decompresses gzip and deflate responses unless a Range header was sent.

Compression can be disabled through the Accept-Encoding: identity header.

HTTP Request Classes

Here is the HTTP request class hierarchy.

• Net::HTTPRequest

  • Net::HTTP::Get

  • Net::HTTP::Head

  • Net::HTTP::Post

  • Net::HTTP::Patch

  • Net::HTTP::Put

  • Net::HTTP::Proppatch

  • Net::HTTP::Lock

  • Net::HTTP::Unlock

  • Net::HTTP::Options

  • Net::HTTP::Propfind

  • Net::HTTP::Delete

  • Net::HTTP::Move

  • Net::HTTP::Copy

  • Net::HTTP::Mkcol

  • Net::HTTP::Trace

HTTP Response Classes

Here is HTTP response class hierarchy. All classes are defined in Net module and are subclasses of Net::HTTPResponse.

HTTPUnknownResponse

For unhandled HTTP extensions

HTTPInformation

1xx

HTTPContinue

100

HTTPSwitchProtocol

101

HTTPSuccess

2xx

HTTPOK

200

HTTPCreated

201

HTTPAccepted

202

HTTPNonAuthoritativeInformation

203

HTTPNoContent

204

HTTPResetContent

205

HTTPPartialContent

206

HTTPMultiStatus

207

HTTPIMUsed

226

HTTPRedirection

3xx

HTTPMultipleChoices

300

HTTPMovedPermanently

301

HTTPFound

302

HTTPSeeOther

303

HTTPNotModified

304

HTTPUseProxy

305

HTTPTemporaryRedirect

307

HTTPClientError

4xx

HTTPBadRequest

400

HTTPUnauthorized

401

HTTPPaymentRequired

402

HTTPForbidden

403

HTTPNotFound

404

HTTPMethodNotAllowed

405

HTTPNotAcceptable

406

HTTPProxyAuthenticationRequired

407

HTTPRequestTimeOut

408

HTTPConflict

409

HTTPGone

410

HTTPLengthRequired

411

HTTPPreconditionFailed

412

HTTPRequestEntityTooLarge

413

HTTPRequestURITooLong

414

HTTPUnsupportedMediaType

415

HTTPRequestedRangeNotSatisfiable

416

HTTPExpectationFailed

417

HTTPUnprocessableEntity

422

HTTPLocked

423

HTTPFailedDependency

424

HTTPUpgradeRequired

426

HTTPPreconditionRequired

428

HTTPTooManyRequests

429

HTTPRequestHeaderFieldsTooLarge

431

HTTPUnavailableForLegalReasons

451

HTTPServerError

5xx

HTTPInternalServerError

500

HTTPNotImplemented

501

HTTPBadGateway

502

HTTPServiceUnavailable

503

HTTPGatewayTimeOut

504

HTTPVersionNotSupported

505

HTTPInsufficientStorage

507

HTTPNetworkAuthenticationRequired

511

There is also the Net::HTTPBadResponse exception which is raised when there is a protocol error.