Node.js v0.6.8 Manual & Documentation

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HTTPS

HTTPS is the HTTP protocol over TLS/SSL. In Node this is implemented as a separate module.

https.Server

This class is a subclass of tls.Server and emits events same as http.Server. See http.Server for more information.

https.createServer(options, [requestListener])

Returns a new HTTPS web server object. The options is similar to tls.createServer(). The requestListener is a function which is automatically added to the 'request' event.

Example:

// curl -k https://localhost:8000/
var https = require('https');
var fs = require('fs');

var options = {
  key: fs.readFileSync('test/fixtures/keys/agent2-key.pem'),
  cert: fs.readFileSync('test/fixtures/keys/agent2-cert.pem')
};

https.createServer(options, function (req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200);
  res.end("hello world\n");
}).listen(8000);

https.request(options, callback)

Makes a request to a secure web server. All options from http.request() are valid.

Example:

var https = require('https');

var options = {
  host: 'encrypted.google.com',
  port: 443,
  path: '/',
  method: 'GET'
};

var req = https.request(options, function(res) {
  console.log("statusCode: ", res.statusCode);
  console.log("headers: ", res.headers);

  res.on('data', function(d) {
    process.stdout.write(d);
  });
});
req.end();

req.on('error', function(e) {
  console.error(e);
});

The options argument has the following options

• host: IP or domain of host to make request to. Defaults to 'localhost'.
• port: port of host to request to. Defaults to 443.
• path: Path to request. Default '/'.

• method: HTTP request method. Default 'GET'.

• host: A domain name or IP address of the server to issue the request to. Defaults to 'localhost'.

• hostname: To support url.parse() hostname is preferred over host
• port: Port of remote server. Defaults to 443.
• method: A string specifying the HTTP request method. Defaults to 'GET'.
• path: Request path. Defaults to '/'. Should include query string if any. E.G. '/index.html?page=12'
• headers: An object containing request headers.
• auth: Basic authentication i.e. 'user:password' to compute an Authorization header.
• agent: Controls Agent behavior. When an Agent is used request will default to Connection: keep-alive. Possible values:
  • undefined (default): use globalAgent for this host and port.
  • Agent object: explicitly use the passed in Agent.
  • false: opts out of connection pooling with an Agent, defaults request to Connection: close.

The following options from tls.connect() can also be specified. However, a globalAgent silently ignores these.

• key: Private key to use for SSL. Default null.
• passphrase: A string of passphrase for the private key. Default null.
• cert: Public x509 certificate to use. Default null.
• ca: An authority certificate or array of authority certificates to check the remote host against.

In order to specify these options, use a custom Agent.

Example:

var options = {
  host: 'encrypted.google.com',
  port: 443,
  path: '/',
  method: 'GET',
  key: fs.readFileSync('test/fixtures/keys/agent2-key.pem'),
  cert: fs.readFileSync('test/fixtures/keys/agent2-cert.pem')
};
options.agent = new https.Agent(options);

var req = https.request(options, function(res) {
  ...
}

Or does not use an Agent.

Example:

var options = {
  host: 'encrypted.google.com',
  port: 443,
  path: '/',
  method: 'GET',
  key: fs.readFileSync('test/fixtures/keys/agent2-key.pem'),
  cert: fs.readFileSync('test/fixtures/keys/agent2-cert.pem'),
  agent: false
};

var req = https.request(options, function(res) {
  ...
}

https.get(options, callback)

Like http.get() but for HTTPS.

Example:

var https = require('https');

https.get({ host: 'encrypted.google.com', path: '/' }, function(res) {
  console.log("statusCode: ", res.statusCode);
  console.log("headers: ", res.headers);

  res.on('data', function(d) {
    process.stdout.write(d);
  });

}).on('error', function(e) {
  console.error(e);
});

https.Agent

An Agent object for HTTPS similar to http.Agent. See https.request() for more information.

https.globalAgent

Global instance of https.Agent which is used as the default for all HTTPS client requests.