# body-parser
  
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  Node.js body parsing middleware.
  
  Parse incoming request bodies in a middleware before your handlers, available
  under the `req.body` property.
  
  [Learn about the anatomy of an HTTP transaction in Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en/docs/guides/anatomy-of-an-http-transaction/).
  
  _This does not handle multipart bodies_, due to their complex and typically
  large nature. For multipart bodies, you may be interested in the following
  modules:
  
    * [busboy](https://www.npmjs.org/package/busboy#readme) and
      [connect-busboy](https://www.npmjs.org/package/connect-busboy#readme)
    * [multiparty](https://www.npmjs.org/package/multiparty#readme) and
      [connect-multiparty](https://www.npmjs.org/package/connect-multiparty#readme)
    * [formidable](https://www.npmjs.org/package/formidable#readme)
    * [multer](https://www.npmjs.org/package/multer#readme)
  
  This module provides the following parsers:
  
    * [JSON body parser](#bodyparserjsonoptions)
    * [Raw body parser](#bodyparserrawoptions)
    * [Text body parser](#bodyparsertextoptions)
    * [URL-encoded form body parser](#bodyparserurlencodedoptions)
  
  Other body parsers you might be interested in:
  
  - [body](https://www.npmjs.org/package/body#readme)
  - [co-body](https://www.npmjs.org/package/co-body#readme)
  
  ## Installation
  
  ```sh
  $ npm install body-parser
  ```
  
  ## API
  
  <!-- eslint-disable no-unused-vars -->
  
  ```js
  var bodyParser = require('body-parser')
  ```
  
  The `bodyParser` object exposes various factories to create middlewares. All
  middlewares will populate the `req.body` property with the parsed body, or an
  empty object (`{}`) if there was no body to parse (or an error was returned).
  
  The various errors returned by this module are described in the
  [errors section](#errors).
  
  ### bodyParser.json(options)
  
  Returns middleware that only parses `json`. This parser accepts any Unicode
  encoding of the body and supports automatic inflation of `gzip` and `deflate`
  encodings.
  
  A new `body` object containing the parsed data is populated on the `request`
  object after the middleware (i.e. `req.body`).
  
  #### Options
  
  The `json` function takes an option `options` object that may contain any of
  the following keys:
  
  ##### inflate
  
  When set to `true`, then deflated (compressed) bodies will be inflated; when
  `false`, deflated bodies are rejected. Defaults to `true`.
  
  ##### limit
  
  Controls the maximum request body size. If this is a number, then the value
  specifies the number of bytes; if it is a string, the value is passed to the
  [bytes](https://www.npmjs.com/package/bytes) library for parsing. Defaults
  to `'100kb'`.
  
  ##### reviver
  
  The `reviver` option is passed directly to `JSON.parse` as the second
  argument. You can find more information on this argument
  [in the MDN documentation about JSON.parse](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/JSON/parse#Example.3A_Using_the_reviver_parameter).
  
  ##### strict
  
  When set to `true`, will only accept arrays and objects; when `false` will
  accept anything `JSON.parse` accepts. Defaults to `true`.
  
  ##### type
  
  The `type` option is used to determine what media type the middleware will
  parse. This option can be a function or a string. If a string, `type` option
  is passed directly to the [type-is](https://www.npmjs.org/package/type-is#readme)
  library and this can be an extension name (like `json`), a mime type (like
  `application/json`), or a mime type with a wildcard (like `*/*` or `*/json`).
  If a function, the `type` option is called as `fn(req)` and the request is
  parsed if it returns a truthy value. Defaults to `application/json`.
  
  ##### verify
  
  The `verify` option, if supplied, is called as `verify(req, res, buf, encoding)`,
  where `buf` is a `Buffer` of the raw request body and `encoding` is the
  encoding of the request. The parsing can be aborted by throwing an error.
  
  ### bodyParser.raw(options)
  
  Returns middleware that parses all bodies as a `Buffer`. This parser
  supports automatic inflation of `gzip` and `deflate` encodings.
  
  A new `body` object containing the parsed data is populated on the `request`
  object after the middleware (i.e. `req.body`). This will be a `Buffer` object
  of the body.
  
  #### Options
  
  The `raw` function takes an option `options` object that may contain any of
  the following keys:
  
  ##### inflate
  
  When set to `true`, then deflated (compressed) bodies will be inflated; when
  `false`, deflated bodies are rejected. Defaults to `true`.
  
  ##### limit
  
  Controls the maximum request body size. If this is a number, then the value
  specifies the number of bytes; if it is a string, the value is passed to the
  [bytes](https://www.npmjs.com/package/bytes) library for parsing. Defaults
  to `'100kb'`.
  
  ##### type
  
  The `type` option is used to determine what media type the middleware will
  parse. This option can be a function or a string. If a string, `type` option
  is passed directly to the [type-is](https://www.npmjs.org/package/type-is#readme)
  library and this can be an extension name (like `bin`), a mime type (like
  `application/octet-stream`), or a mime type with a wildcard (like `*/*` or
  `application/*`). If a function, the `type` option is called as `fn(req)`
  and the request is parsed if it returns a truthy value. Defaults to
  `application/octet-stream`.
  
  ##### verify
  
  The `verify` option, if supplied, is called as `verify(req, res, buf, encoding)`,
  where `buf` is a `Buffer` of the raw request body and `encoding` is the
  encoding of the request. The parsing can be aborted by throwing an error.
  
  ### bodyParser.text(options)
  
  Returns middleware that parses all bodies as a string. This parser supports
  automatic inflation of `gzip` and `deflate` encodings.
  
  A new `body` string containing the parsed data is populated on the `request`
  object after the middleware (i.e. `req.body`). This will be a string of the
  body.
  
  #### Options
  
  The `text` function takes an option `options` object that may contain any of
  the following keys:
  
  ##### defaultCharset
  
  Specify the default character set for the text content if the charset is not
  specified in the `Content-Type` header of the request. Defaults to `utf-8`.
  
  ##### inflate
  
  When set to `true`, then deflated (compressed) bodies will be inflated; when
  `false`, deflated bodies are rejected. Defaults to `true`.
  
  ##### limit
  
  Controls the maximum request body size. If this is a number, then the value
  specifies the number of bytes; if it is a string, the value is passed to the
  [bytes](https://www.npmjs.com/package/bytes) library for parsing. Defaults
  to `'100kb'`.
  
  ##### type
  
  The `type` option is used to determine what media type the middleware will
  parse. This option can be a function or a string. If a string, `type` option
  is passed directly to the [type-is](https://www.npmjs.org/package/type-is#readme)
  library and this can be an extension name (like `txt`), a mime type (like
  `text/plain`), or a mime type with a wildcard (like `*/*` or `text/*`).
  If a function, the `type` option is called as `fn(req)` and the request is
  parsed if it returns a truthy value. Defaults to `text/plain`.
  
  ##### verify
  
  The `verify` option, if supplied, is called as `verify(req, res, buf, encoding)`,
  where `buf` is a `Buffer` of the raw request body and `encoding` is the
  encoding of the request. The parsing can be aborted by throwing an error.
  
  ### bodyParser.urlencoded(options)
  
  Returns middleware that only parses `urlencoded` bodies. This parser accepts
  only UTF-8 encoding of the body and supports automatic inflation of `gzip`
  and `deflate` encodings.
  
  A new `body` object containing the parsed data is populated on the `request`
  object after the middleware (i.e. `req.body`). This object will contain
  key-value pairs, where the value can be a string or array (when `extended` is
  `false`), or any type (when `extended` is `true`).
  
  #### Options
  
  The `urlencoded` function takes an option `options` object that may contain
  any of the following keys:
  
  ##### extended
  
  The `extended` option allows to choose between parsing the URL-encoded data
  with the `querystring` library (when `false`) or the `qs` library (when
  `true`). The "extended" syntax allows for rich objects and arrays to be
  encoded into the URL-encoded format, allowing for a JSON-like experience
  with URL-encoded. For more information, please
  [see the qs library](https://www.npmjs.org/package/qs#readme).
  
  Defaults to `true`, but using the default has been deprecated. Please
  research into the difference between `qs` and `querystring` and choose the
  appropriate setting.
  
  ##### inflate
  
  When set to `true`, then deflated (compressed) bodies will be inflated; when
  `false`, deflated bodies are rejected. Defaults to `true`.
  
  ##### limit
  
  Controls the maximum request body size. If this is a number, then the value
  specifies the number of bytes; if it is a string, the value is passed to the
  [bytes](https://www.npmjs.com/package/bytes) library for parsing. Defaults
  to `'100kb'`.
  
  ##### parameterLimit
  
  The `parameterLimit` option controls the maximum number of parameters that
  are allowed in the URL-encoded data. If a request contains more parameters
  than this value, a 413 will be returned to the client. Defaults to `1000`.
  
  ##### type
  
  The `type` option is used to determine what media type the middleware will
  parse. This option can be a function or a string. If a string, `type` option
  is passed directly to the [type-is](https://www.npmjs.org/package/type-is#readme)
  library and this can be an extension name (like `urlencoded`), a mime type (like
  `application/x-www-form-urlencoded`), or a mime type with a wildcard (like
  `*/x-www-form-urlencoded`). If a function, the `type` option is called as
  `fn(req)` and the request is parsed if it returns a truthy value. Defaults
  to `application/x-www-form-urlencoded`.
  
  ##### verify
  
  The `verify` option, if supplied, is called as `verify(req, res, buf, encoding)`,
  where `buf` is a `Buffer` of the raw request body and `encoding` is the
  encoding of the request. The parsing can be aborted by throwing an error.
  
  ## Errors
  
  The middlewares provided by this module create errors depending on the error
  condition during parsing. The errors will typically have a `status` property
  that contains the suggested HTTP response code and a `body` property containing
  the read body, if available.
  
  The following are the common errors emitted, though any error can come through
  for various reasons.
  
  ### content encoding unsupported
  
  This error will occur when the request had a `Content-Encoding` header that
  contained an encoding but the "inflation" option was set to `false`. The
  `status` property is set to `415`.
  
  ### request aborted
  
  This error will occur when the request is aborted by the client before reading
  the body has finished. The `received` property will be set to the number of
  bytes received before the request was aborted and the `expected` property is
  set to the number of expected bytes. The `status` property is set to `400`.
  
  ### request entity too large
  
  This error will occur when the request body's size is larger than the "limit"
  option. The `limit` property will be set to the byte limit and the `length`
  property will be set to the request body's length. The `status` property is
  set to `413`.
  
  ### request size did not match content length
  
  This error will occur when the request's length did not match the length from
  the `Content-Length` header. This typically occurs when the request is malformed,
  typically when the `Content-Length` header was calculated based on characters
  instead of bytes. The `status` property is set to `400`.
  
  ### stream encoding should not be set
  
  This error will occur when something called the `req.setEncoding` method prior
  to this middleware. This module operates directly on bytes only and you cannot
  call `req.setEncoding` when using this module. The `status` property is set to
  `500`.
  
  ### unsupported charset "BOGUS"
  
  This error will occur when the request had a charset parameter in the
  `Content-Type` header, but the `iconv-lite` module does not support it OR the
  parser does not support it. The charset is contained in the message as well
  as in the `charset` property. The `status` property is set to `415`.
  
  ### unsupported content encoding "bogus"
  
  This error will occur when the request had a `Content-Encoding` header that
  contained an unsupported encoding. The encoding is contained in the message
  as well as in the `encoding` property. The `status` property is set to `415`.
  
  ## Examples
  
  ### Express/Connect top-level generic
  
  This example demonstrates adding a generic JSON and URL-encoded parser as a
  top-level middleware, which will parse the bodies of all incoming requests.
  This is the simplest setup.
  
  ```js
  var express = require('express')
  var bodyParser = require('body-parser')
  
  var app = express()
  
  // parse application/x-www-form-urlencoded
  app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false }))
  
  // parse application/json
  app.use(bodyParser.json())
  
  app.use(function (req, res) {
    res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain')
    res.write('you posted:
  ')
    res.end(JSON.stringify(req.body, null, 2))
  })
  ```
  
  ### Express route-specific
  
  This example demonstrates adding body parsers specifically to the routes that
  need them. In general, this is the most recommended way to use body-parser with
  Express.
  
  ```js
  var express = require('express')
  var bodyParser = require('body-parser')
  
  var app = express()
  
  // create application/json parser
  var jsonParser = bodyParser.json()
  
  // create application/x-www-form-urlencoded parser
  var urlencodedParser = bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false })
  
  // POST /login gets urlencoded bodies
  app.post('/login', urlencodedParser, function (req, res) {
    if (!req.body) return res.sendStatus(400)
    res.send('welcome, ' + req.body.username)
  })
  
  // POST /api/users gets JSON bodies
  app.post('/api/users', jsonParser, function (req, res) {
    if (!req.body) return res.sendStatus(400)
    // create user in req.body
  })
  ```
  
  ### Change accepted type for parsers
  
  All the parsers accept a `type` option which allows you to change the
  `Content-Type` that the middleware will parse.
  
  ```js
  var express = require('express')
  var bodyParser = require('body-parser')
  
  var app = express()
  
  // parse various different custom JSON types as JSON
  app.use(bodyParser.json({ type: 'application/*+json' }))
  
  // parse some custom thing into a Buffer
  app.use(bodyParser.raw({ type: 'application/vnd.custom-type' }))
  
  // parse an HTML body into a string
  app.use(bodyParser.text({ type: 'text/html' }))
  ```
  
  ## License
  
  [MIT](LICENSE)
  
  [npm-image]: https://img.shields.io/npm/v/body-parser.svg
  [npm-url]: https://npmjs.org/package/body-parser
  [travis-image]: https://img.shields.io/travis/expressjs/body-parser/master.svg
  [travis-url]: https://travis-ci.org/expressjs/body-parser
  [coveralls-image]: https://img.shields.io/coveralls/expressjs/body-parser/master.svg
  [coveralls-url]: https://coveralls.io/r/expressjs/body-parser?branch=master
  [downloads-image]: https://img.shields.io/npm/dm/body-parser.svg
  [downloads-url]: https://npmjs.org/package/body-parser
  [gratipay-image]: https://img.shields.io/gratipay/dougwilson.svg
  [gratipay-url]: https://www.gratipay.com/dougwilson/