Name

If-None-Match

Synopsis

The If-None-Match header, like all the If headers, can be used to make a request conditional. The client supplies the server with a list of entity tags, and the server compares those tags against the entity tags it has for the resource, returning the resource only if none match.

This allows a cache to update resources only if they have changed. Using the If-None-Match header, a cache can use a single request to both invalidate the entities it has and receive the new entity in the response. Chapter 7 discusses conditional requests in detail.

Type

Request header

Basic Syntax

If-None-Match: (“*” | 1# entity-tag)

Example

If-None-Match: “11e92a-457b-31345aa”

Get HTTP: The Definitive Guide now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.