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HEAD method

HEAD asks for the response metadata of GET without transferring response content.

Difficulty
beginner
Published
July 13, 2026
Last reviewed
Review due
  • methods
  • retrieval
  • metadata

Defined meaning

HEAD is identical to GET except that the server must not send response content. It is safe, idempotent, and cacheable. Servers should send the same fields as GET, but may omit fields whose values are determined only while generating content.

HEAD /manual HTTP/1.1
Host: example.invalid

Expected result: a successful response can describe the selected representation with fields such as Content-Type and validators, but no response content follows.

Use

HEAD can inspect metadata or validate links without transferring a representation. It is not guaranteed to be cheaper for the origin: an implementation might still generate the representation to calculate its fields.

Common mistake

An empty HEAD response is correct behavior, not evidence that the corresponding GET representation is empty. Compare status and fields with GET when diagnosing a server that implements HEAD inconsistently.

Primary sources