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204 No Content Status Code

What is HTTP Response Status Code 204 No Content?

HTTP response status code 204 No Content indicates that the server successfully processed the client’s request, but there is no content to send in the response. Despite the lack of content, the response headers may still contain useful meta-information about the request.

When is HTTP Response Status Code 204 No Content Used?

The 204 No Content status code is used when the server needs to acknowledge a request but has no additional data to return. It is often used in scenarios where a client is making an update or a delete request, and no further information needs to be provided by the server.

Significance of HTTP Response Status Code 204 No Content in Web Development?

The 204 No Content status code helps optimize client-server interactions by reducing the amount of data sent over the network. This is especially useful in RESTful APIs, where acknowledging the completion of an action without returning data can reduce bandwidth usage.

How to Implement HTTP Response Status Code 204 No Content?

To implement the 204 No Content status code, the server should return this code when a request is successfully processed but there is no data to send back. The client can interpret this as an indication that the action was successful without any additional information.

FAQs

  • When should I use a 204 status code? Use it when a request has been successfully processed but there is no need to send any response body back to the client.
  • Can a 204 response contain a body? No, a 204 response should not contain a message body; it only includes headers.
  • Is 204 the same as 200 with an empty body? No, an 204 explicitly means no content, while a 200 response can include an empty or minimal body.

Example Use cases

 

 

# Client sends a DELETE request to delete a user resource.
curl -X DELETE https://api.example.com/users/12345 -i

 

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Date: Wed, 09 Oct 2024 10:30:00 GMT
Server: Apache/2.4.41 (Ubuntu)

 

# No content is returned in the body, indicating the user resource was successfully deleted.
# Client sends a PUT request to update user preferences.
curl -X PUT https://api.example.com/users/12345/preferences -d ‘{“notifications”: “disabled”}’ -H “Content-Type: application/json” -i

 

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Date: Wed, 09 Oct 2024 10:32:00 GMT
Server: Nginx/1.18.0

 

# No content in the response body indicates the update was successful, but no further information is needed.

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