200 OK - HTTP

The 200 OK status code is one of the most common and widely used HTTP status codes. It represents a successful HTTP request and indicates that the server has successfully processed the request and generated the expected response. In this article, we will explore the details of the 200 OK status code, including its meaning, use cases, and examples of request and response.

Overview

The 200 OK status code is part of the HTTP/1.1 standard (RFC 7231) and belongs to the class of status codes known as “Successful Responses.” This class of status codes is used to indicate that the request was successfully received, understood, and accepted.

When a client sends a request to a server, the server processes the request and generates a response. If the request is successful, the server will return a 200 OK status code along with the requested data or a confirmation message. This status code is commonly used with the following HTTP methods:

GET
POST
PUT
DELETE
PATCH

Use Cases

The 200 OK status code is used in various scenarios, such as:

Fetching a resource: When a client requests a resource using the GET method, the server returns the requested resource with a 200 OK status code if the resource is available and accessible.
Creating a new resource: When a client sends a POST request to create a new resource, the server returns a 200 OK status code along with the created resource or a confirmation message if the resource was successfully created.
Updating a resource: When a client sends a PUT or PATCH request to update an existing resource, the server returns a 200 OK status code along with the updated resource or a confirmation message if the resource was successfully updated.
Deleting a resource: When a client sends a DELETE request to remove a resource, the server returns a 200 OK status code along with a confirmation message if the resource was successfully deleted.

Example Request and Response

In this section, we will look at an example of a 200 OK status code for both a request and a response.

Request

A client sends a GET request to fetch a resource from the server:

GET /example-resource HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com
Accept: application/json

Response

The server processes the request and returns the requested resource with a 200 OK status code:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length: 123

{
  "id": 1,
  "title": "Example Resource",
  "description": "This is an example resource.",
  "created_at": "2021-01-01T00:00:00Z",
  "updated_at": "2021-01-01T00:00:00Z"
}

In this example, the server successfully processed the GET request and returned the requested resource in JSON format with a 200 OK status code.

Summary

The 200 OK status code is an essential part of the HTTP protocol, indicating that a request has been successfully processed and the server has generated the expected response. It is commonly used with various HTTP methods, such as GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, and PATCH, to signify successful operations on resources. Understanding and utilizing the 200 OK status code is crucial for building and maintaining efficient and reliable web applications and APIs.

Was this helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!