205 Reset Content

The HTTP 205 Reset Content successful response status code indicates that the request has been successfully processed and the client should reset the document view.

This response is intended to support use cases where the user receives content that supports data entry, submits user-edited data in a request, and the content needs to be reset for the next entry. The instruction to "reset content" can mean clearing the contents of a form, resetting a canvas state, or refreshing a UI; the implementation depends on the client.

Note: In web applications that use the 205 status, it's assumed that the client handles resetting content after a 205 response. This is typically done via JavaScript, as resetting content such as forms after a 205 response is not handled natively by browsers.

There must be no content in the response body, and this can be indicated using Content-Length: 0 header or Transfer-Encoding: chunked header with an empty chunk.

Status

http
205 Reset Content

Examples

Resetting a form after receiving a 205 Reset Content

The client in this example sends a POST request to submit a form with the comment Hello!:

http
POST /submit HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 15

comment=Hello!

After successfully processing the form submission, the server responds with the following 205 response, indicating that the client should reset the form.

http
HTTP/1.1 205 Reset Content
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 0
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2024 12:00:00 GMT

Specifications

Specification
HTTP Semantics
# status.205

Compatibility notes

Browser behaviors differ if this response erroneously includes a body on persistent connections. See 204 No Content compatibility notes for more details.

See also