jQuery API

jQuery.post()

jQuery.post( url, [data,] [success(data, textStatus, jqXHR),] [dataType] ) Returns: jqXHR

Description: Load data from the server using a HTTP POST request.

  • version added: 1.0jQuery.post( url, [data,] [success(data, textStatus, jqXHR),] [dataType] )

    urlA string containing the URL to which the request is sent.

    dataA map or string that is sent to the server with the request.

    success(data, textStatus, jqXHR)A callback function that is executed if the request succeeds.

    dataTypeThe type of data expected from the server. Default: Intelligent Guess (xml, json, script, or html).

This is a shorthand Ajax function, which is equivalent to:

$.ajax({
  type: 'POST',
  url: url,
  data: data,
  success: success,
  dataType: dataType
});

The success callback function is passed the returned data, which will be an XML root element or a text string depending on the MIME type of the response. It is also passed the text status of the response.

As of jQuery 1.5, the success callback function is also passed a "jqXHR" object (in jQuery 1.4, it was passed the XMLHttpRequest object).

Most implementations will specify a success handler:

$.post('ajax/test.html', function(data) {
  $('.result').html(data);
});

This example fetches the requested HTML snippet and inserts it on the page.

Pages fetched with POST are never cached, so the cache and ifModified options in jQuery.ajaxSetup() have no effect on these requests.

The jqXHR Object

As of jQuery 1.5, all of jQuery's Ajax methods return a superset of the XMLHTTPRequest object. This jQuery XHR object, or "jqXHR," returned by $.post() implements the Promise interface, giving it all the properties, methods, and behavior of a Promise (see Deferred object for more information). For convenience and consistency with the callback names used by $.ajax(), it provides .error(), .success(), and .complete() methods. These methods take a function argument that is called when the request terminates, and the function receives the same arguments as the correspondingly-named $.ajax() callback.

The Promise interface in jQuery 1.5 also allows jQuery's Ajax methods, including $.post(), to chain multiple .success(), .complete(), and .error() callbacks on a single request, and even to assign these callbacks after the request may have completed. If the request is already complete, the callback is fired immediately.

// Assign handlers immediately after making the request,
    // and remember the jqxhr object for this request
    var jqxhr = $.post("example.php", function() {
      alert("success");
    })
    .success(function() { alert("second success"); })
    .error(function() { alert("error"); })
    .complete(function() { alert("complete"); });

    // perform other work here ...

    // Set another completion function for the request above
    jqxhr.complete(function(){ alert("second complete"); });

Additional Notes:

  • Due to browser security restrictions, most "Ajax" requests are subject to the same origin policy; the request can not successfully retrieve data from a different domain, subdomain, or protocol.
  • If a request with jQuery.post() returns an error code, it will fail silently unless the script has also called the global .ajaxError() method or. As of jQuery 1.5, the .error() method of the jqXHR object returned by jQuery.post() is also available for error handling.

Examples:

Example: Request the test.php page, but ignore the return results.

$.post("test.php");

Example: Request the test.php page and send some additional data along (while still ignoring the return results).

$.post("test.php", { name: "John", time: "2pm" } );

Example: pass arrays of data to the server (while still ignoring the return results).

$.post("test.php", { 'choices[]': ["Jon", "Susan"] });

Example: send form data using ajax requests

$.post("test.php", $("#testform").serialize());

Example: Alert out the results from requesting test.php (HTML or XML, depending on what was returned).

$.post("test.php", function(data) {
   alert("Data Loaded: " + data);
 });

Example: Alert out the results from requesting test.php with an additional payload of data (HTML or XML, depending on what was returned).

$.post("test.php", { name: "John", time: "2pm" },
   function(data) {
     alert("Data Loaded: " + data);
   });

Example: Gets the test.php page content, store it in a XMLHttpResponse object and applies the process() JavaScript function.

$.post("test.php", { name: "John", time: "2pm" },
 function(data) {
   process(data);
 }, 
 "xml"
);

Example: Posts to the test.php page and gets contents which has been returned in json format (<?php echo json_encode(array("name"=>"John","time"=>"2pm")); ?>).

$.post("test.php", { "func": "getNameAndTime" },
 function(data){
   console.log(data.name); // John
   console.log(data.time); //  2pm
 }, "json");

Example: Post a form using ajax and put results in a div

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
  <form action="/" id="searchForm">
   <input type="text" name="s" placeholder="Search..." />
   <input type="submit" value="Search" />
  </form>
  <!-- the result of the search will be rendered inside this div -->
  <div id="result"></div>

<script>
  /* attach a submit handler to the form */
  $("#searchForm").submit(function(event) {

    /* stop form from submitting normally */
    event.preventDefault(); 
        
    /* get some values from elements on the page: */
    var $form = $( this ),
        term = $form.find( 'input[name="s"]' ).val(),
        url = $form.attr( 'action' );

    /* Send the data using post and put the results in a div */
    $.post( url, { s: term },
      function( data ) {
          var content = $( data ).find( '#content' );
          $( "#result" ).empty().append( content );
      }
    );
  });
</script>

</body>
</html>

Demo:

Support and Contributions

Need help with jQuery.post() or have a question about it? Visit the jQuery Forum or the #jquery channel on irc.freenode.net.

Think you've discovered a jQuery bug related to jQuery.post()? Report it to the jQuery core team.

Found a problem with this documentation? Report it to the jQuery API team.

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  • Bharathy
    jQuery Post doesn't work in Internet Explorer is there any settings for this method
  • AnnoyedByJquery
    This method causes a php file to return everything following a "->" as html. This is very bothersome when using mysqli functions.
  • Elquchiri
    Good think man :)
  • Quiff
    is it possible to get the name of an input in the form via a function with some criteria, like a checkbox thats checked for instance?
  • Quiff
    I found out its possible using $.ajax()
  • Maddy
    how to send an array of string with string keys as data?
  • SparK
    how can I make post throw an exeption when response is not 200?
    (and be able to catch it later)
    because I tried setting $().ready(function(){ $.ajaxSetup({ error to a custom function and throw me the 404, 500, 0, parsererrors and timeouts but I couldn't catch it.
    even it being thrown when I call post, it's not thrown BY post... thus not catchable.
  • Salman
    jQuery.post() is a fantastic functionality overall.
  • How would I $.post() something like this:

    var xmlString = '' +
    '<request><login><username>admin</username><password>admin</password></login>' +
    '<req_operation><retrieve><user><id></id><username>kj</username></user></retrieve>' + '</req_operation></request>';

    THANKS!
  • Ruggie1of1
    $.post("action.php", {"xmlString":xmlString}, function (response){alert(response);});
  • Crazyaug15
    How to make $.post() call as synchronous ? It is very urgent requirement in my project . Can any body help me on this?
  • I would say that you can do the following:

    $.ajaxSetup({async:false});

    And then call to $.post
  • Jay
    Is it possible to use this to post file uploads to the server?
  • Steven Benjamin
    ExtJS uses iframe to upload images via ajax. check out the examples on www.sencha.com
  • Or, you can use Mike Alsup's jQuery Form Plugin.
  • Pwwang
    file uploads is not avaliable by ajax method
  • tim
    sure it is, you just have to set the forms correct encoding type, the size of the post header, and the data blob of your upload encoded in base64. It's only that you can't read the value of a file from the disk to get the file data using javascript because of domain issues. But if that data came from another source - say a Java app, then it would still work through ajax post.
  • frodo123
    How do you handle server side validation errors with this?
  • See the "Additional Notes" section above. In particular: "If a request with jQuery.post() returns an error code, it will fail silently unless the script has also called the global .ajaxError() method." So, if the server sends back an error code, you can handle it with http://api.jquery.com/ajaxErro.... If you're running a server-side validation script and it successfully identifies a problem with user input, then you can handle its response in the success callback.
  • Morning Cat Media
    JSON Variables with dashes in tumblr are called liked this:
    title = post[“regular-title”]
    See this: http://morningcat.com/post/127...