Have you heard the term “requests” in web scraping guides? These are messages clients send to websites to access them, which are then either accepted or rejected by the website server based on various parameters known as HTTP-Headers.
HTTP-Headers, sent and received by both parties, serve a purpose beyond mere request acceptance or rejection. This exchange of request and response messages between the two parties occurs on the backend, away from users' view.
However, you can still see them in your browser. So, what are HTTP headers exactly? Let’s find out in this guide and also know how to view HTTP headers.
Have you heard the term “requests” in web scraping guides? These are messages clients send to websites to access them, which are then either accepted or rejected by the website server based on various parameters known as HTTP-Headers.
HTTP-headers make sure that the communication between your browser and the website is smooth, secure, and as fast as possible. For example, they can tell the server:
This exchange of HTTP-headers is bidirectional i.e. both the client and server participate in it. The client-side headers might include information about the client's preferred formats (HTTP Accept Header) or identification of the client (User-Agent Header).
HTTP-headers make sure that the communication between your browser and the website is smooth, secure, and as fast as possible. For example, they can tell the server:
Have you heard the term “requests” in web scraping guides? These are messages clients send to websites to access them, which are then either accepted or rejected by the website server based on various parameters known as HTTP-Headers.
Understanding what are request headers and response headers are major puzzle pieces of what are HTTP headers.
Note: Many web pages still mention General Headers and Entity Headers as a category of HTTP-Headers. However, the current HTTP/1.1 specification version no longer supports them.