Response Headers

Response headers are HTTP headers sent from the server to the client. They contain information about the server’s response, such as status codes, content types, security policies, or caching rules.

Important Response Headers:

1. Server

• Indicates which software or technology the server is using.
• Example:

Server: Apache/2.4.41 (Ubuntu)

2. Date

• Specifies the date and time of the server’s response in GMT format.
• Example:

Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2025 12:34:56 GMT

3. Content-Type

• Defines the media type of the response.
• Example:

Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

4. Content-Length

• Indicates the size of the response in bytes.
• Example:

Content-Length: 3456

5. Cache-Control

• Determines the caching behavior of the response.
• Example:

Cache-Control: max-age=3600, must-revalidate

6. Set-Cookie

• Sends cookies to the client for storage and future requests.
• Example:

Set-Cookie: sessionId=abc123; Path=/; Secure; HttpOnly

7. ETag

• A unique identifier for a specific version of a resource, used for caching optimization.
• Example:

ETag: "5d8c72a5f8d9f"

8. Location

• Specifies a redirect URL if a resource has moved.
• Example:

Location: https://www.new-url.com/

9. Access-Control-Allow-Origin

• Enables cross-origin requests (CORS).
• Example:

Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *

10. Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS)

• Enforces HTTPS for future requests.
• Example:

Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains

Response headers help the client interpret the received response correctly, enforce security measures, and optimize caching strategies.