205 Reset Content

205 Reset Content is somewhat similar to 204 No Content. It’s especially meant for hypertext applications.

Imagine if a user is filling in a html form, and this form gets submitted to the server.

If the server sends back a 204, a browser could act on this by telling the user the form submission was successful and NOT refresh the page.

If the server sent back a 205, a browser can reset the form, similar to a a reset button a html form:

<input type="reset" />

Browsers could implement this, but at least according to an article from 2008 by Ben Ramsey, they don’t. Implementing this status by a HATEOAS client could definitely still make sense though.

Example response:

HTTP/1.1 205 Reset Content
Server: foo-bar/1.2
Connection: close

References

• RFC7231 - 205 status code.
• Ben Ramsey on 204 and 205.