https.request()

https.request(options, callback)

Makes a request to a secure web server.

options can be an object or a string. If options is a string, it is automatically parsed with url.parse().

All options from http.request() are valid.

Example:

const https = require('https');

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

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

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

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

The options argument has the following options

• host: A domain name or IP address of the server to issue the request to. Defaults to 'localhost'.
• hostname: Alias for host. To support url.parse() hostname is preferred over host.
• family: IP address family to use when resolving host and hostname. Valid values are 4 or 6. When unspecified, both IP v4 and v6 will be used.
• port: Port of remote server. Defaults to 443.
• localAddress: Local interface to bind for network connections.
• socketPath: Unix Domain Socket (use one of host:port or socketPath).
• 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'. An exception is thrown when the request path contains illegal characters. Currently, only spaces are rejected but that may change in the future.
• 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.

• pfx: Certificate, Private key and CA certificates to use for SSL. Default null.
• key: Private key to use for SSL. Default null.
• passphrase: A string of passphrase for the private key or pfx. Default null.
• cert: Public x509 certificate to use. Default null.
• ca: A string, Buffer or array of strings or Buffers of trusted certificates in PEM format. If this is omitted several well known "root" CAs will be used, like VeriSign. These are used to authorize connections.
• ciphers: A string describing the ciphers to use or exclude. Consult https://www.openssl.org/docs/apps/ciphers.html#CIPHER_LIST_FORMAT for details on the format.
• rejectUnauthorized: If true, the server certificate is verified against the list of supplied CAs. An 'error' event is emitted if verification fails. Verification happens at the connection level, before the HTTP request is sent. Default true.
• secureProtocol: The SSL method to use, e.g. SSLv3_method to force SSL version 3. The possible values depend on your installation of OpenSSL and are defined in the constant SSL_METHODS.
• servername: Servername for SNI (Server Name Indication) TLS extension.

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

Example:

var options = {
  hostname: '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, (res) => {
  ...
}

Alternatively, opt out of connection pooling by not using an Agent.

Example:

var options = {
  hostname: '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, (res) => {
  ...
}