Net::HTTPResponse

Class

This class is the base class for Net::HTTP response classes.

About the Examples

Returned Responses

Method Net::HTTP.get_response returns an instance of one of the subclasses of Net::HTTPResponse:

Net::HTTP.get_response(uri)
# => #<Net::HTTPOK 200 OK readbody=true>
Net::HTTP.get_response(hostname, '/nosuch')
# => #<Net::HTTPNotFound 404 Not Found readbody=true>

As does method Net::HTTP#request:

req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
Net::HTTP.start(hostname) do |http|
  http.request(req)
end # => #<Net::HTTPOK 200 OK readbody=true>

Class Net::HTTPResponse includes module Net::HTTPHeader, which provides access to response header values via (among others):

  • Hash-like method [].

  • Specific reader methods, such as content_type.

Examples:

res = Net::HTTP.get_response(uri) # => #<Net::HTTPOK 200 OK readbody=true>
res['Content-Type']               # => "text/html; charset=UTF-8"
res.content_type                  # => "text/html"

Response Subclasses

Class Net::HTTPResponse has a subclass for each HTTP status code. You can look up the response class for a given code:

Net::HTTPResponse::CODE_TO_OBJ['200'] # => Net::HTTPOK
Net::HTTPResponse::CODE_TO_OBJ['400'] # => Net::HTTPBadRequest
Net::HTTPResponse::CODE_TO_OBJ['404'] # => Net::HTTPNotFound

And you can retrieve the status code for a response object:

Net::HTTP.get_response(uri).code                 # => "200"
Net::HTTP.get_response(hostname, '/nosuch').code # => "404"

The response subclasses (indentation shows class hierarchy):

There is also the Net::HTTPBadResponse exception which is raised when there is a protocol error.

Constants

CODE_CLASS_TO_OBJ

No documentation available

CODE_TO_OBJ

No documentation available
Attributes

http_version

Read

The HTTP version supported by the server.

code

Read

The HTTP result code string. For example, ‘302’. You can also determine the response type by examining which response subclass the response object is an instance of.

message

Read

The HTTP result message sent by the server. For example, ‘Not Found’.

uri

Read

The URI used to fetch this response. The response URI is only available if a URI was used to create the request.

decode_content

Read & Write

Set to true automatically when the request did not contain an Accept-Encoding header from the user.

body_encoding

Read

Returns the value set by body_encoding=, or false if none; see body_encoding=.

ignore_eof

Read & Write

Whether to ignore EOF when reading bodies with a specified Content-Length header.

Class Methods

body_permitted?
::

true if the response has a body.

each_response_header(sock) { |key, value| ... }
::
No documentation available

read_status_line(sock)
::
No documentation available

response_class(code)
::
No documentation available
Instance Methods

body
#

Returns the string response body; note that repeated calls for the unmodified body return a cached string:

path = '/todos/1'
Net::HTTP.start(hostname) do |http|
  res = http.get(path)
  p res.body
  p http.head(path).body # No body.
end

Output:

"{\n  \"userId\": 1,\n  \"id\": 1,\n  \"title\": \"delectus aut autem\",\n  \"completed\": false\n}"
nil

body=(value)
#

Sets the body of the response to the given value.

body_encoding=(value)
#

Sets the encoding that should be used when reading the body:

  • If the given value is an Encoding object, that encoding will be used.

  • Otherwise if the value is a string, the value of Encoding#find(value) will be used.

  • Otherwise an encoding will be deduced from the body itself.

Examples:

http = Net::HTTP.new(hostname)
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new('/')

http.request(req) do |res|
  p res.body.encoding # => #<Encoding:ASCII-8BIT>
end

http.request(req) do |res|
  res.body_encoding = "UTF-8"
  p res.body.encoding # => #<Encoding:UTF-8>
end

inspect
#
No documentation available

read_body(dest = nil, &block)
#

Gets the entity body returned by the remote HTTP server.

If a block is given, the body is passed to the block, and the body is provided in fragments, as it is read in from the socket.

If dest argument is given, response is read into that variable, with dest#<< method (it could be String or IO, or any other object responding to <<).

Calling this method a second or subsequent time for the same HTTPResponse object will return the value already read.

http.request_get('/index.html') {|res|
  puts res.read_body
}

http.request_get('/index.html') {|res|
  p res.read_body.object_id   # 538149362
  p res.read_body.object_id   # 538149362
}

# using iterator
http.request_get('/index.html') {|res|
  res.read_body do |segment|
    print segment
  end
}

value
#

Raises an HTTP error if the response is not 2xx (success).