HttpWebResponse.ContentLength Property

Definition

Gets the length of the content returned by the request.

public:
 virtual property long ContentLength { long get(); };
public override long ContentLength { get; }
member this.ContentLength : int64
Public Overrides ReadOnly Property ContentLength As Long

Property Value

The number of bytes returned by the request. Content length does not include header information.

Exceptions

The current instance has been disposed.

Examples

The following example displays the value of this property.

#using <System.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Net;
using namespace System::Text;
using namespace System::IO;

// Specify the URL to receive the request.
int main()
{
   array<String^>^args = Environment::GetCommandLineArgs();
   HttpWebRequest^ request = dynamic_cast<HttpWebRequest^>(WebRequest::Create(args[1]));

   // Set some reasonable limits on resources used by this request
   request->MaximumAutomaticRedirections = 4;
   request->MaximumResponseHeadersLength = 4;

   // Set credentials to use for this request.
   request->Credentials = CredentialCache::DefaultCredentials;
   HttpWebResponse^ response = dynamic_cast<HttpWebResponse^>(request->GetResponse());
   Console::WriteLine("Content length is {0}", response->ContentLength);
   Console::WriteLine("Content type is {0}", response->ContentType);

   // Get the stream associated with the response.
   Stream^ receiveStream = response->GetResponseStream();

   // Pipes the stream to a higher level stream reader with the required encoding format.
   StreamReader^ readStream = gcnew StreamReader(receiveStream, Encoding::UTF8);
   Console::WriteLine("Response stream received.");
   Console::WriteLine(readStream->ReadToEnd());
   response->Close();
   readStream->Close();
}

/*
The output from this example will vary depending on the value passed into Main
but will be similar to the following:

Content length is 1542
Content type is text/html; charset=utf-8
Response stream received.
<html>
...
</html>

*/
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;

    public class Test
    {
        // Specify the URL to receive the request.
        public static void Main (string[] args)
        {
            HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(args[0]);

            // Set some reasonable limits on resources used by this request
            request.MaximumAutomaticRedirections = 4;
            request.MaximumResponseHeadersLength = 4;
            // Set credentials to use for this request.
            request.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
            HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

            Console.WriteLine("Content length is {0}", response.ContentLength);
            Console.WriteLine("Content type is {0}", response.ContentType);

            // Get the stream associated with the response.
            Stream receiveStream = response.GetResponseStream();

            // Pipes the stream to a higher level stream reader with the required encoding format.
            StreamReader readStream = new StreamReader(receiveStream, Encoding.UTF8);

            Console.WriteLine("Response stream received.");
            Console.WriteLine(readStream.ReadToEnd());
            response.Close();
            readStream.Close();
        }
    }

/*
The output from this example will vary depending on the value passed into Main
but will be similar to the following:

Content length is 1542
Content type is text/html; charset=utf-8
Response stream received.
<html>
...
</html>

*/
Imports System.Net
Imports System.Text
Imports System.IO


    Public Class Test

        ' Specify the URL to receive the request.
        Public Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
        Dim request As HttpWebRequest = CType(WebRequest.Create(args(0)), HttpWebRequest)


        ' Set some reasonable limits on resources used by this request
        request.MaximumAutomaticRedirections = 4
        request.MaximumResponseHeadersLength = 4

        ' Set credentials to use for this request.
        request.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials

        Dim response As HttpWebResponse = CType(request.GetResponse(), HttpWebResponse)

        Console.WriteLine("Content length is {0}", response.ContentLength)
        Console.WriteLine("Content type is {0}", response.ContentType)

        ' Get the stream associated with the response.
        Dim receiveStream As Stream = response.GetResponseStream()

        ' Pipes the stream to a higher level stream reader with the required encoding format. 
        Dim readStream As New StreamReader(receiveStream, Encoding.UTF8)

        Console.WriteLine("Response stream received.")
        Console.WriteLine(readStream.ReadToEnd())
        response.Close()
        readStream.Close()
    End Sub
End Class
'
'The output from this example will vary depending on the value passed into Main 
'but will be similar to the following:
'
'Content length is 1542
'Content type is text/html; charset=utf-8
'Response stream received.
'...
'
'

Remarks

The ContentLength property contains the value of the Content-Length header returned with the response. If the Content-Length header is not set in the response, ContentLength is set to the value -1.

Applies to