Did this page help you? Yes No Tell us about it...

HEAD Object

Description

The HEAD operation retrieves metadata from an object without returning the object itself. This operation is useful if you're only interested in an object's metadata. To use HEAD, you must have READ access to the object.

A HEAD request has the same options as a GET operation on an object. The response is identical to the GET response, except that there is no response body.

Requests

Syntax

HEAD /ObjectName HTTP/1.1
Host: BucketName.s3.amazonaws.com
Authorization: signatureValue
Date: date

Request Parameters

This implementation of the operation does not use request parameters.

Request Headers

This implementation of the operation can use the following request headers in addition to the request headers common to all operations. For more information, see Common Request Headers.

Name	Description	Required
`Range`	Downloads the specified range bytes of an object. For more information about the HTTP Range header, go to http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec14.html#sec14.35. Type: String Default: None Constraints: None	No
`If-Modified-Since`	Return the object only if it has been modified since the specified time, otherwise return a 304 (not modified). Type: String Default: None Constraints: None	No
`If-Unmodified-Since`	Return the object only if it has not been modified since the specified time, otherwise return a 412 (precondition failed). Type: String Default: None Constraints: None	No
`If-Match`	Return the object only if its entity tag (`ETag`) is the same as the one specified, otherwise return a 412 (precondition failed). Type: String Default: None Constraints: None	No
`If-None-Match`	Return the object only if its entity tag (`ETag`) is different from the one specified, otherwise return a 304 (not modified). Type: String Default: None Constraints: None	No

Request Elements

This implementation of the operation does not use request elements.

Responses

Response Headers

This implementation of the operation can include the following response headers in addition to the response headers common to all responses. For more information, see Common Response Headers.

Name	Description
`x-amz-expiration`	If the object expiration is configured (see PUT Bucket lifecycle), the response includes this header. It includes the `expiry-date` and `rule-id` key value pairs providing object expiration information. The value of the `rule-id` is URL encoded. Type: String
`x-amz-meta-`*	If you supplied user metadata when you `PUT` the object, that metadata is returned in one or more response headers prefixed with x-amz-meta- and with the suffix name that you provided on storage, for example, family, i.e., x-amz-meta-family. Amazon S3 returns this metadata verbatim; Amazon S3 does not interpreted it. Type: String
`x-amz-missing-meta`	This is set to the number of metadata entries not returned in x-amz-meta headers. This can happen if you create metadata using an API like SOAP that supports more flexible metadata than the REST API. For example, using SOAP, you can create metadata whose values are not legal HTTP headers. Type: String
`x-amz-server-side-encryption`	If the object is stored using server-side encryption, response includes this header with value of the encryption algorithm used. Type: String Valid Values: `AES256`
`x-amz-version-id`	This is set to the version ID of the object returned. Type: String

Response Elements

This implementation of the operation does not return response elements.

Special Errors

This implementation of the operation does not return special errors. For general information about Amazon S3 errors and a list of error codes, see Error Responses.

Examples

Sample Request

This request returns the metadata of an object.

HEAD /my-image.jpg HTTP/1.1
Host: bucket.s3.amazonaws.com
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:32:00 GMT
Authorization: AWS AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE:02236Q3V0RonhpaBX5sCYVf1bNRuU=

Sample Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
x-amz-id-2: ef8yU9AS1ed4OpIszj7UDNEHGran
x-amz-request-id: 318BC8BC143432E5
x-amz-version-id: 3HL4kqtJlcpXroDTDmjVBH40Nrjfkd
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:32:00 GMT
Last-Modified: Sun, 1 Jan 2006 12:00:00 GMT
ETag: "fba9dede5f27731c9771645a39863328"
Content-Length: 434234
Content-Type: text/plain
Connection: close
Server: AmazonS3

Sample Request Getting Metadata From a Specified Version of an Object

This operation returns the metadata of the specified version of an object.

HEAD /my-image.jpg?versionId=3HL4kqCxf3vjVBH40Nrjfkd HTTP/1.1
Host: bucket.s3.amazonaws.com
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:32:00 GMT
Authorization: AWS AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE:02236Q3V0WpaBX5sCYVf1bNRuU=

Sample Response to a Versioned HEAD Request

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
x-amz-id-2: eftixk72aD6Ap51TnqcoF8epIszj7UDNEHGran
x-amz-request-id: 318BC8BC143432E5
x-amz-version-id: 3HL4kqtJlcpXrof3vjVBH40Nrjfkd
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:32:00 GMT
Last-Modified: Sun, 1 Jan 2006 12:00:00 GMT
ETag: "fba9dede5f27731c9771645a39863328"
Content-Length: 434234
Content-Type: text/plain
Connection: close
Server: AmazonS3

Related Resources

GET Object

Document Conventions
Terms of Use

Did this page help you? Yes No Tell us about it...