Invoke-Web Request

Gets content from a web page on the Internet.

Syntax

Invoke-WebRequest
      [-UseBasicParsing]
      [-Uri] <Uri>
      [-WebSession <WebRequestSession>]
      [-SessionVariable <String>]
      [-AllowUnencryptedAuthentication]
      [-Authentication <WebAuthenticationType>]
      [-Credential <PSCredential>]
      [-UseDefaultCredentials]
      [-CertificateThumbprint <String>]
      [-Certificate <X509Certificate>]
      [-SkipCertificateCheck]
      [-SslProtocol <WebSslProtocol>]
      [-Token <SecureString>]
      [-UserAgent <String>]
      [-DisableKeepAlive]
      [-TimeoutSec <Int32>]
      [-Headers <IDictionary>]
      [-MaximumRedirection <Int32>]
      [-Method <WebRequestMethod>]
      [-Proxy <Uri>]
      [-ProxyCredential <PSCredential>]
      [-ProxyUseDefaultCredentials]
      [-Body <Object>]
      [-ContentType <String>]
      [-TransferEncoding <String>]
      [-InFile <String>]
      [-OutFile <String>]
      [-PassThru]
      [-PreserveAuthorizationOnRedirect]
      [-SkipHeaderValidation]
Invoke-WebRequest
      [-UseBasicParsing]
      [-Uri] <Uri>
      [-WebSession <WebRequestSession>]
      [-SessionVariable <String>]
      [-AllowUnencryptedAuthentication]
      [-Authentication <WebAuthenticationType>]
      [-Credential <PSCredential>]
      [-UseDefaultCredentials]
      [-CertificateThumbprint <String>]
      [-Certificate <X509Certificate>]
      [-SkipCertificateCheck]
      [-SslProtocol <WebSslProtocol>]
      [-Token <SecureString>]
      [-UserAgent <String>]
      [-DisableKeepAlive]
      [-TimeoutSec <Int32>]
      [-Headers <IDictionary>]
      [-MaximumRedirection <Int32>]
      [-Method <WebRequestMethod>]
      [-NoProxy]
      [-Body <Object>]
      [-ContentType <String>]
      [-TransferEncoding <String>]
      [-InFile <String>]
      [-OutFile <String>]
      [-PassThru]
      [-PreserveAuthorizationOnRedirect]
      [-SkipHeaderValidation]
Invoke-WebRequest
      [-UseBasicParsing]
      [-Uri] <Uri>
      [-WebSession <WebRequestSession>]
      [-SessionVariable <String>]
      [-AllowUnencryptedAuthentication]
      [-Authentication <WebAuthenticationType>]
      [-Credential <PSCredential>]
      [-UseDefaultCredentials]
      [-CertificateThumbprint <String>]
      [-Certificate <X509Certificate>]
      [-SkipCertificateCheck]
      [-SslProtocol <WebSslProtocol>]
      [-Token <SecureString>]
      [-UserAgent <String>]
      [-DisableKeepAlive]
      [-TimeoutSec <Int32>]
      [-Headers <IDictionary>]
      [-MaximumRedirection <Int32>]
      -CustomMethod <String>
      [-Proxy <Uri>]
      [-ProxyCredential <PSCredential>]
      [-ProxyUseDefaultCredentials]
      [-Body <Object>]
      [-ContentType <String>]
      [-TransferEncoding <String>]
      [-InFile <String>]
      [-OutFile <String>]
      [-PassThru]
      [-PreserveAuthorizationOnRedirect]
      [-SkipHeaderValidation]
Invoke-WebRequest
      [-UseBasicParsing]
      [-Uri] <Uri>
      [-WebSession <WebRequestSession>]
      [-SessionVariable <String>]
      [-AllowUnencryptedAuthentication]
      [-Authentication <WebAuthenticationType>]
      [-Credential <PSCredential>]
      [-UseDefaultCredentials]
      [-CertificateThumbprint <String>]
      [-Certificate <X509Certificate>]
      [-SkipCertificateCheck]
      [-SslProtocol <WebSslProtocol>]
      [-Token <SecureString>]
      [-UserAgent <String>]
      [-DisableKeepAlive]
      [-TimeoutSec <Int32>]
      [-Headers <IDictionary>]
      [-MaximumRedirection <Int32>]
      -CustomMethod <String>
      [-NoProxy]
      [-Body <Object>]
      [-ContentType <String>]
      [-TransferEncoding <String>]
      [-InFile <String>]
      [-OutFile <String>]
      [-PassThru]
      [-PreserveAuthorizationOnRedirect]
      [-SkipHeaderValidation]

Description

The Invoke-WebRequest cmdlet sends HTTP and HTTPS requests to a web page or web service. It parses the response and returns collections of links, images, and other significant HTML elements.

This cmdlet was introduced in PowerShell 3.0.

Examples

Example 1: Use a stateful web service

$Body = @{

    User = 'jdoe'

    password = 'P@S$w0rd!'

}

$LoginResponse = Invoke-WebRequest 'http://www.contoso.com/login/' -SessionVariable 'Session' -Body $Body -Method 'POST'



$Session



$ProfileResponse = Invoke-WebRequest 'http://www.contoso.com/profile/' -WebSession $Session



$ProfileResponse

This example shows how to use the Invoke-WebRequest cmdlet with a stateful web service.

The first call to Invoke-WebRequest sends a sign-in request. The command specifies a value of "Session" for the value of the -SessionVariable parameter, and saves the result in the $LoginResponse variable. When the command completes, the $LoginResponse variable contains an BasicHtmlWebResponseObject and the $Session variable contains a WebRequestSession object. This logs the user into the site.

The call to $Session by itself shows the WebRequestSession object in the variable.

The second call to Invoke-WebRequest fetches the user's profile which requires that the user be logged into the site. The session data stored in the $Session variable is used to provide session cookies to the site created during the login. The result is saved in the $ProfileResponse variable.

The call to $ProfileResponse by itself shows the BasicHtmlWebResponseObject in the variable.

Example 2: Get links from a web page

(Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs").Links.Href

This command gets the links in a web page. It uses the Invoke-WebRequest cmdlet to get the web page content. Then it users the Links property of the BasicHtmlWebResponseObject that Invoke-WebRequest returns, and the Href property of each link.

Example 3: Writes the response content to a file using the encoding defined in the requested page.

$Response = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs"

$Stream = [System.IO.StreamWriter]::new('.\docspage.html', $false, $Response.Encoding)

try {

    $Stream.Write($response.Content)

}

finally {

    $Stream.Dispose()

}

This command uses the Invoke-WebRequest cmdlet to retrieve the web page content of an msdn page.

The first command retrieves the page and saves the response object in a variable.

The second command creates a StreamWriter to use to write the response content to a file. The Encoding property of the response object is used to set the encoding for the file.

The final few commands write the Content property to the file then disposes the StreamWriter .

Note that the Encoding property will be null if the web request does not return text content.

Example 4: Submit a multipart/form-data file

$FilePath = 'c:\document.txt'

$FieldName = 'document'

$ContentType = 'text/plain'



$FileStream = [System.IO.FileStream]::new($filePath, [System.IO.FileMode]::Open)

$FileHeader = [System.Net.Http.Headers.ContentDispositionHeaderValue]::new('form-data')

$FileHeader.Name = $FieldName

$FileHeader.FileName = Split-Path -leaf $FilePath

$FileContent = [System.Net.Http.StreamContent]::new($FileStream)

$FileContent.Headers.ContentDisposition = $FileHeader

$FileContent.Headers.ContentType = [System.Net.Http.Headers.MediaTypeHeaderValue]::Parse($ContentType)



$MultipartContent = [System.Net.Http.MultipartFormDataContent]::new()

$MultipartContent.Add($FileContent)



$Response = Invoke-WebRequest -Body $MultipartContent -Method 'POST' -Uri 'https://api.contoso.com/upload'

This example uses the Invoke-WebRequest cmdlet upload a file as a multipart/form-data submission. The file c:\document.txt will be submitted as the form field document with the Content-Type of text/plain .

Required Parameters

-CustomMethod

Specifies custom method used for the web request. This can be used with the Request Method required by the endpoint is not an available option on the -Method . -Method and -CustomMethod cannot be used together.

Example:

Invoke-WebRequest -uri ' https://api.contoso.com/widget/ ' -CustomMethod 'TEST'

This makes a TEST HTTP request to the API.

Type: String
Aliases: CM
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-NoProxy

Indicates that the cmdlet will not use a proxy to reach the destination.

When you need to bypass the proxy configured in the environment, use this switch.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Uri

Specifies the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the Internet resource to which the web request is sent. Enter a URI. This parameter supports HTTP or HTTPS only.

This parameter is required. The parameter name ( -Uri ) is optional.

Type: Uri
Position: 1
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False

Optional Parameters

-AllowUnencryptedAuthentication

Allows sending of credentials and secrets over unencrypted connections. By default, supplying -Credential or any -Authentication option with a -Uri that does not begin with https:// will result in an error and the request will abort to prevent unintentionally communicating secrets in plain text over unencrypted connections. To override this behavior at your own risk, supply the -AllowUnencryptedAuthentication parameter.

Warning : Using this parameter is not secure and is not recommended. It is provided only for compatibility with legacy systems that cannot provide encrypted connections. Use at your own risk.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Authentication

Specifies the explicit authentication type to use for the request. The default is None . -Authentication cannot be used with -UseDefaultCredentials .

Available Authentication Options:

  • None : This is the default option when -Authentication is not supplied. No explicit authentication will be used.
  • Basic : Requires -Credential . The credentials will be used to send an RFC 7617 Basic Authentication Authorization: Basic header in the format of base64(user:password) .
  • Bearer : Requires -Token . Will send and RFC 6750 Authorization: Bearer header with the supplied token. This is an alias for OAuth
  • OAuth : Requires -Token . Will send and RFC 6750 Authorization: Bearer header with the supplied token. This is an alias for Bearer

Supplying -Authentication will override any Authorization headers supplied to -Headers or included in -WebSession .

Type: WebAuthenticationType
Parameter Sets: None, Basic, Bearer, OAuth
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Body

Specifies the body of the request. The body is the content of the request that follows the headers. You can also pipe a body value to Invoke-WebRequest .

The -Body parameter can be used to specify a list of query parameters or specify the content of the response.

When the input is a GET request and the body is an IDictionary (typically, a hash table), the body is added to the URI as query parameters. For other request types (such as POST), the body is set as the value of the request body in the standard name=value format.

The -Body parameter may also accept a System.Net.Http.MultipartFormDataContent object. This will facilitate multipart/form-data requests. When a MultipartFormDataContent object is supplied for -Body , any Content related headers supplied to the -ContentType , -Headers , or -WebSession parameters will be overridden by the Content headers of the MultipartFormDataContent object.

Type: Object
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: True (ByValue)
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Certificate

Specifies the client certificate that is used for a secure web request. Enter a variable that contains a certificate or a command or expression that gets the certificate.

To find a certificate, use Get-PfxCertificate or use the Get-ChildItem cmdlet in the Certificate ( Cert: ) drive. If the certificate is not valid or does not have sufficient authority, the command fails.

Note : This feature may not work on OS platforms where libcurl is configured with a TLS provider other than OpenSSL.

Type: X509Certificate
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-CertificateThumbprint

Specifies the digital public key certificate (X509) of a user account that has permission to send the request. Enter the certificate thumbprint of the certificate.

Certificates are used in client certificate-based authentication. They can be mapped only to local user accounts; they do not work with domain accounts.

To get a certificate thumbprint, use the Get-Item or Get-ChildItem command in the PowerShell Cert: drive.

Note: This feature is currently only supported on Windows OS platforms.

Type: String
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-ContentType

Specifies the content type of the web request.

If this parameter is omitted and the request method is POST, Invoke-WebRequest sets the content type to application/x-www-form-urlencoded . Otherwise, the content type is not specified in the call.

-ContentType will be overridden when a MultipartFormDataContent object is supplied for -Body .

Type: String
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Credential

Specifies a user account that has permission to send the request. The default is the current user.

Type a user name, such as "User01", "Domain01\User01", "User01@Domain.com", or enter a PSCredential object, such as one generated by the Get-Credential cmdlet.

-Credential can be used alone or in conjunction with certain -Authentication options. When used alone, it will only supply credentials to the remote server if the remote server sends an authentication challenge request. When used with -Authentication options, the credentials will be explicitly sent.

Type: PSCredential
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-DisableKeepAlive

Indicates that the cmdlet sets the KeepAlive value in the HTTP header to False. By default, KeepAlive is True. KeepAlive establishes a persistent connection to the server to facilitate subsequent requests.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Headers

Specifies the headers of the web request. Enter a hash table or dictionary.

To set UserAgent headers, use the -UserAgent parameter. You cannot use this parameter to specify User-Agent or cookie headers.

Content related headers, such as Content-Type will be overridden when a MultipartFormDataContent object is supplied for -Body .

Type: IDictionary
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-InFile

Gets the content of the web request from a file.

Enter a path and file name. If you omit the path, the default is the current location.

Type: String
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-MaximumRedirection

Specifies how many times PowerShell redirects a connection to an alternate Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) before the connection fails. The default value is 5. A value of 0 (zero) prevents all redirection.

Type: Int32
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Method

Specifies the method used for the web request. The acceptable values for this parameter are:

  • Default
  • Delete
  • Get
  • Head
  • Merge
  • Options
  • Patch
  • Post
  • Put
  • Trace

The -CustomMethod parameter can be used for Request Methods not listed above.

Type: WebRequestMethod
Parameter Sets: Default, Get, Head, Post, Put, Delete, Trace, Options, Merge, Patch
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-OutFile

Specifies the output file for which this cmdlet saves the response body. Enter a path and file name. If you omit the path, the default is the current location.

By default, Invoke-WebRequest returns the results to the pipeline. To send the results to a file and to the pipeline, use the -Passthru parameter.

Type: String
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-PassThru

Indicates that the cmdlet returns the results, in addition to writing them to a file. This parameter is valid only when the -OutFile parameter is also used in the command.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-PreserveAuthorizationOnRedirect

Indicates the cmdlet should preserve the Authorization header, when present, across redirections.

By default, the cmdlet strips the Authorization header before redirecting. Specifying this parameter disables this logic for cases where the header needs to be sent to the redirection location.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Proxy

Specifies a proxy server for the request, rather than connecting directly to the Internet resource. Enter the URI of a network proxy server.

Type: Uri
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-ProxyCredential

Specifies a user account that has permission to use the proxy server that is specified by the -Proxy parameter. The default is the current user.

Type a user name, such as "User01" or "Domain01\User01", "User@Domain.Com", or enter a PSCredential object, such as one generated by the Get-Credential cmdlet.

This parameter is valid only when the -Proxy parameter is also used in the command. You cannot use the -ProxyCredential and -ProxyUseDefaultCredentials parameters in the same command.

Type: PSCredential
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-ProxyUseDefaultCredentials

Indicates that the cmdlet uses the credentials of the current user to access the proxy server that is specified by the -Proxy parameter.

This parameter is valid only when the -Proxy parameter is also used in the command. You cannot use the -ProxyCredential and -ProxyUseDefaultCredentials parameters in the same command.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-SessionVariable

Specifies a variable for which this cmdlet creates a web request session and saves it in the value. Enter a variable name without the dollar sign ( $ ) symbol.

When you specify a session variable, Invoke-WebRequest creates a web request session object and assigns it to a variable with the specified name in your PowerShell session. You can use the variable in your session as soon as the command completes.

Unlike a remote session, the web request session is not a persistent connection. It is an object that contains information about the connection and the request, including cookies, credentials, the maximum redirection value, and the user agent string. You can use it to share state and data among web requests.

To use the web request session in subsequent web requests, specify the session variable in the value of the -WebSession parameter. PowerShell uses the data in the web request session object when establishing the new connection. To override a value in the web request session, use a cmdlet parameter, such as -UserAgent or -Credential . Parameter values take precedence over values in the web request session.

You cannot use the -SessionVariable and -WebSession parameters in the same command.

Type: String
Aliases: SV
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-SkipCertificateCheck

Skips certificate validation checks. This includes all validations such as expiration, revocation, trusted root authority, etc.

Warning : Using this parameter is not secure and is not recommended. This switch is only intended to be used against known hosts using a self-signed certificate for testing purposes. Use at your own risk.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-SkipHeaderValidation

Indicates the cmdlet should add headers to the request without validation.

This switch should be used for sites that require header values that do not conform to standards. Specifying this switch disables validation to allow the value to be passed unchecked. When specified, all headers are added without validation.

This will disable validation for values passed to both the -Headers and -UserAgent parameters.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-SslProtocol

Sets the SSL/TLS protocols that are permissible for the web request. By default all, SSL/TLS protocols supported by the system are allowed. -SslProtocol allows for limiting to specific protocols for compliance purposes.

-SslProtocol uses the WebSslProtocol Flag Enum. It is possible to supply more than one protocol using flag notation or combining multiple WebSslProtocol options with -bor , however supplying multiple protocols is not supported on all platforms.

Note : This feature may not work on OS platforms where libcurl is configured with a TLS provider other than OpenSSL.

Type: WebSslProtocol
Parameter Sets: Default, Tls, Tls11, Tls12
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-TimeoutSec

Specifies how long the request can be pending before it times out. Enter a value in seconds. The default value, 0, specifies an indefinite time-out.

A Domain Name System (DNS) query can take up to 15 seconds to return or time out. If your request contains a host name that requires resolution, and you set -TimeoutSec to a value greater than zero, but less than 15 seconds, it can take 15 seconds or more before a WebException is thrown, and your request times out.

Type: Int32
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-Token

The OAuth or Bearer token to include in the request. -Token is required by certain -Authentication options. It cannot be used independently.

-Token takes a SecureString containing the token. To supply the token manually use the following:

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $uri -Authentication OAuth -Token (Read-Host -AsSecureString)

Type: SecureString
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-TransferEncoding

Specifies a value for the transfer-encoding HTTP response header. The acceptable values for this parameter are:

  • Chunked
  • Compress
  • Deflate
  • GZip
  • Identity
Type: String
Parameter Sets: chunked, compress, deflate, gzip, identity
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-UseBasicParsing

This parameter has been deprecated. Beginning with PowerShell 6.0.0, all Web requests use basic parsing only. This parameter is included for backwards compatibility only and any use of it will have no effect on the operation of the cmdlet.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-UseDefaultCredentials

Indicates that the cmdlet uses the credentials of the current user to send the web request. This cannot be used with -Authentication or -Credential and may not be supported on all platforms.

Type: SwitchParameter
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-UserAgent

Specifies a user agent string for the web request.

The default user agent is similar to Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Microsoft Windows 10.0.15063; en-US) PowerShell/6.0.0 with slight variations for each operating system and platform.

To test a website with the standard user agent string that is used by most Internet browsers, use the properties of the PSUserAgent class, such as Chrome, FireFox, InternetExplorer, Opera, and Safari.

For example, the following command uses the user agent string for Internet Explorer

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri http://website.com/ -UserAgent ([Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.PSUserAgent]::InternetExplorer)

Type: String
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False
-WebSession

Specifies a web request session. Enter the variable name, including the dollar sign ( $ ).

To override a value in the web request session, use a cmdlet parameter, such as -UserAgent or -Credential . Parameter values take precedence over values in the web request session. Content related headers, such as Content-Type , will be also be overridden when a MultipartFormDataContent object is supplied for -Body .

Unlike a remote session, the web request session is not a persistent connection. It is an object that contains information about the connection and the request, including cookies, credentials, the maximum redirection value, and the user agent string. You can use it to share state and data among web requests.

To create a web request session, enter a variable name (without a dollar sign) in the value of the -SessionVariable parameter of an Invoke-WebRequest command. Invoke-WebRequest creates the session and saves it in the variable. In subsequent commands, use the variable as the value of the -WebSession parameter.

You cannot use the -SessionVariable and -WebSession parameters in the same command.

Type: WebRequestSession
Position: Named
Default value: None
Accept pipeline input: False
Accept wildcard characters: False

Inputs

System.Object

You can pipe the body of a web request to Invoke-WebRequest .

Outputs

Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.BasicHtmlWebResponseObject

Notes

Some features may not be available on all platforms.

Beginning with PowerShell 6.0.0 Invoke-WebRequest supports basic parsing only.