In Files

  • net/http.rb

Namespace

Net

Constants

HTTPSession

What Is This Library?

This library provides your program functions to access WWW documents via HTTP, Hyper Text Transfer Protocol version 1.1. For details of HTTP, refer [RFC2616] (www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt).

Examples

Getting Document From WWW Server

Example #1: Simple GET+print

require 'net/http'
Net::HTTP.get_print 'www.example.com', '/index.html'

Example #2: Simple GET+print by URL

require 'net/http'
require 'uri'
Net::HTTP.get_print URI.parse('http://www.example.com/index.html')

Example #3: More generic GET+print

require 'net/http'
require 'uri'

url = URI.parse('http://www.example.com/index.html')
res = Net::HTTP.start(url.host, url.port) {|http|
  http.get('/index.html')
}
puts res.body

Example #4: More generic GET+print

require 'net/http'

url = URI.parse('http://www.example.com/index.html')
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url.path)
res = Net::HTTP.start(url.host, url.port) {|http|
  http.request(req)
}
puts res.body

Posting Form Data

require 'net/http'
require 'uri'

#1: Simple POST
res = Net::HTTP.post_form(URI.parse('http://www.example.com/search.cgi'),
                          {'q' => 'ruby', 'max' => '50'})
puts res.body

#2: POST with basic authentication
res = Net::HTTP.post_form(URI.parse('http://jack:pass@www.example.com/todo.cgi'),
                                    {'from' => '2005-01-01',
                                     'to' => '2005-03-31'})
puts res.body

#3: Detailed control
url = URI.parse('http://www.example.com/todo.cgi')
req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url.path)
req.basic_auth 'jack', 'pass'
req.set_form_data({'from' => '2005-01-01', 'to' => '2005-03-31'}, ';')
res = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port).start {|http| http.request(req) }
case res
when Net::HTTPSuccess, Net::HTTPRedirection
  # OK
else
  res.error!
end

#4: Multiple values
res = Net::HTTP.post_form(URI.parse('http://www.example.com/search.cgi'),
                          {'q' => ['ruby', 'perl'], 'max' => '50'})
puts res.body

Accessing via Proxy

Net::HTTP.Proxy creates http proxy class. It has same methods of Net::HTTP but its instances always connect to proxy, instead of given host.

require 'net/http'

proxy_addr = 'your.proxy.host'
proxy_port = 8080
        :
Net::HTTP::Proxy(proxy_addr, proxy_port).start('www.example.com') {|http|
  # always connect to your.proxy.addr:8080
        :
}

Since Net::HTTP.Proxy returns Net::HTTP itself when proxy_addr is nil, there's no need to change code if there's proxy or not.

There are two additional parameters in Net::HTTP.Proxy which allow to specify proxy user name and password:

Net::HTTP::Proxy(proxy_addr, proxy_port, proxy_user = nil, proxy_pass = nil)

You may use them to work with authorization-enabled proxies:

require 'net/http'
require 'uri'

proxy_host = 'your.proxy.host'
proxy_port = 8080
uri = URI.parse(ENV['http_proxy'])
proxy_user, proxy_pass = uri.userinfo.split(/:/) if uri.userinfo
Net::HTTP::Proxy(proxy_host, proxy_port,
                 proxy_user, proxy_pass).start('www.example.com') {|http|
  # always connect to your.proxy.addr:8080 using specified username and password
        :
}

Note that net/http never rely on HTTP_PROXY environment variable. If you want to use proxy, set it explicitly.

Following Redirection

require 'net/http'
require 'uri'

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

  response = Net::HTTP.get_response(URI.parse(uri_str))
  case response
  when Net::HTTPSuccess     then response
  when Net::HTTPRedirection then fetch(response['location'], limit - 1)
  else
    response.error!
  end
end

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

Net::HTTPSuccess and Net::HTTPRedirection is a HTTPResponse class. All HTTPResponse objects belong to its own response class which indicate HTTP result status. For details of response classes, see section “HTTP Response Classes”.

Basic Authentication

require 'net/http'

Net::HTTP.start('www.example.com') {|http|
  req = Net::HTTP::Get.new('/secret-page.html')
  req.basic_auth 'account', 'password'
  response = http.request(req)
  print response.body
}

HTTP Request Classes

Here is HTTP request class hierarchy.

Net::HTTPRequest
    Net::HTTP::Get
    Net::HTTP::Head
    Net::HTTP::Post
    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.

HTTPResponse
    HTTPUnknownResponse
    HTTPInformation                    # 1xx
        HTTPContinue                       # 100
        HTTPSwitchProtocl                  # 101
    HTTPSuccess                        # 2xx
        HTTPOK                             # 200
        HTTPCreated                        # 201
        HTTPAccepted                       # 202
        HTTPNonAuthoritativeInformation    # 203
        HTTPNoContent                      # 204
        HTTPResetContent                   # 205
        HTTPPartialContent                 # 206
    HTTPRedirection                    # 3xx
        HTTPMultipleChoice                 # 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
    HTTPServerError                    # 5xx
        HTTPInternalServerError            # 500
        HTTPNotImplemented                 # 501
        HTTPBadGateway                     # 502
        HTTPServiceUnavailable             # 503
        HTTPGatewayTimeOut                 # 504
        HTTPVersionNotSupported            # 505

Switching Net::HTTP versions

You can use net/http.rb 1.1 features (bundled with Ruby 1.6) by calling Net::HTTP.version_1_1. Calling Net::HTTP.version_1_2 allows you to use 1.2 features again.

# example
Net::HTTP.start {|http1| ...(http1 has 1.2 features)... }

Net::HTTP.version_1_1
Net::HTTP.start {|http2| ...(http2 has 1.1 features)... }

Net::HTTP.version_1_2
Net::HTTP.start {|http3| ...(http3 has 1.2 features)... }

This function is NOT thread-safe.