1. GET //anydirectory/anypage.html HTTP/1.0
2. User-agent: NCSA Mosaic for the X Window System/2.5
3. Accept: text/plain
4. Accept: text/html
5. Accept: image/gif

The rows above are information sent by the client to the server. At this point the server replies:

1. HTTP/1.0 Status 200 Document follows
2. Server: NCSA/1.4
3. Date: Sat, 6 July, 1998 12:12:12 GMT
4. Content-type: text/html
5. Content-length: 5300
6. Last-modified: Fri, 5 July 1998 12:12:00 GMT

What does it means the above dialogue?

GET //anydirectory/anypage.html HTTP/1.0

The client asks for a page called anypage.html (GET) and indicates the HTTP version (1.0).

User-agent: NCSA Mosaic for the X Window System/2.5

The client says to the server its name (NCSA Mosaic) and the operating system which is running.

1. Accept: text/plain

2. Accept: text/html

3. Accept: image/gif

Finally, the client says to the server which file formats it is able to handle.

At this point the server replies:

HTTP/1.0 Status 200 Document follows

That is the HTTP version (1.0) and a return code (status). When the request is successful, the server reutrns '200', otherwise it returns '404' (there are several status codes anyway).

Server: NCSA/1.4

The server's type and its version (1.4).

Date: Sat, 6 July, 1998 12:12:12 GMT

The server's local time.

Content-type: text/html

The file format (an HTML page).

Content-length: 5300

The length of that page.

Last-modified: Fri, 5 July 1998 12:12:00 GMT

The last modified date.