PATCH

The HTTP PATCH request method applies partial modifications to a resource.

The HTTP PUT method is already defined to overwrite a resource with a complete new body, and for the POST method there is no standard way to discover patch format support. Unlike PUT, but like POST, PATCH is not idempotent, meaning successive identical patch requests will have different effects.

To find out whether a server supports PATCH, a server can advertise its support by adding it to the list in the Allow or Access-Control-Allow-Methods (for CORS) response headers.

Another (implicit) indication that PATCH is allowed, is the presence of the Accept-Patch header, which specifies the patch document formats accepted by the server.

Syntax

PATCH /file.txt HTTP/1.1 

Example

Request

PATCH /file.txt HTTP/1.1 
Host: www.example.com
Content-Type: application/example
If-Match: "e0023aa4e"
Content-Length: 100

[description of changes]

Response

A successful response is indicated with a 204 response code, because the response does not carry a message body.

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Content-Location: /file.txt
ETag: "e0023aa4f"

Specifications

See also

• 204
• Allow, Access-Control-Allow-Methods
• Accept-Patch – specifies the patch document formats accepted by the server.