Re: GET with offset ?

On Sun, 30 Aug 1998, Tristan Savatier wrote:

> Thanks. Now I see how to do a GET with range request.
> 
> Now, another question:
> 
> Is there a way to specify the offset or range with the http: URL
> syntax ?
> 
> i.e. something like http://host/dir/file@range=0,500
> 

There is no provision in HTTP to do this.  However, some servers
have the built-in capability and you could do it using a CGI script
with any server.

An early version of the the byterange specification did not use
a header and put the range request in the URL.  There are pros
and cons for URL vs. header.  In the end it was deemed that a
header was best.  However, one of the cons is that you loose
a lot of functionality by not allowing a range specification
in the URL.  Of course any server is free to do it in a non-standard
way and, as mentioned above it can be done with CGI.

John Franks
john@math.nwu.edu

Received on Sunday, 30 August 1998 17:38:06 UTC