What is the best way to send HTTP requests from Windows Powershell?

Question

The best way really depends on what task you are trying to accomplish as the two answers below have noted. WebClient is the simplest, but HttpWebRequest is the most flexible. — Steven Murawski, Dec 04 '08 at 14:20

Thomas Bratt · Accepted Answer · 2009-02-08T10:01:02.250

33

Found one way:

$page = (New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString("http://localhost/")

Thanks to Steven Murawski for his comment:

The best way really depends on what task you are trying to accomplish as the two answers below have noted. WebClient is the simplest, but HttpWebRequest is the most flexible.

edited Feb 08 '09 at 10:01

answered Dec 04 '08 at 13:29

Thomas Bratt

48,038
36
121
139

If you need to control anything related to timeouts then you must use httpwebrequest or webrequest. – David Newcomb May 16 '12 at 11:07

score 12 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 18 '14 at 15:15

12

In PowerShell 3.0+ you can use Invoke-WebRequest

$page = Invoke-WebRequest "http://localhost/"

answered Feb 18 '14 at 15:15

Kamarey

10,832
7
57
70

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 04 '08 at 13:37

2

System.Net.WebClient is the easiest way to do it for simple GET request. However if you need to do a POST request for a form then you will need to use System.Net.HttpWebRequest.

answered Dec 04 '08 at 13:37

Turnkey

9,266
3
27
36

What is the best way to send HTTP requests from Windows Powershell?

3 Answers3

Linked