What are API Methods?

What are API Methods?

HTTP Methods #

HTTP methods, also known as “verbs,” define the type of action to be performed on a resource. Here are the most commonly used HTTP methods:

1. GET #

• Purpose: Retrieve data from the server.
• Idempotent: Yes (multiple identical requests will yield the same result).
• Sample Example: Fetching a list of users.

GET /users HTTP/1.1

Host: example.com

• Response:

[

  {"id": 1, "name": "John Doe"},

  {"id": 2, "name": "Jane Smith"}

]

2. POST #

• Purpose: Send data to the server to create a new resource.
• Idempotent: No (sending the same request multiple times can create multiple resources).
• Sample Example: Creating a new user.

POST /users HTTP/1.1

Host: example.com

Content-Type: application/json

{

  "name": "John Doe",

  "email": "john.doe@example.com"

}

3. PUT #

• Purpose: Update an existing resource or create a resource if it doesn’t exist.
• Idempotent: Yes (sending the same request multiple times will result in the same state).
• Sample Example: Updating a user’s information.

PUT /users/1 HTTP/1.1

Host: example.com

Content-Type: application/json

{

  "name": "John Doe",

  "email": "john.newemail@example.com"

}

• Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

4. DELETE #

• Purpose: Remove a resource from the server.
• Idempotent: Yes (deleting a resource multiple times results in the same state, i.e., the resource being absent).
• Sample Example: Deleting a user.

DELETE /users/1 HTTP/1.1

Host: example.com

• Response:

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content

5. PATCH #

• Purpose: Apply partial updates to a resource.
• Idempotent: Yes (the same PATCH request will result in the same state).
• Sample Example: Updating only the email of a user.

PATCH /users/1 HTTP/1.1

Host: example.com

Content-Type: application/json

{

  "email": "john.updated@example.com"

}

• Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

6. HEAD #

• Purpose: Same as GET, but it only retrieves the headers, not the body.
• Idempotent: Yes.
• Sample Example: Checking if a resource exists without downloading it.

HEAD /users/1 HTTP/1.1

Host: example.com

• Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

Content-Length: 348

Content-Type: application/json