Steps to a Manual GET Request with Netcat

Let’s dive into crafting the netcat command for an HTTP GET request.

Step 1: Opening your terminal window:

On Linux, search for Terminal.

On Windows, search for Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell.

Step 2: Accessing Netcat Utility:

If Netcat is installed, you can directly run it by using nc, or you can use nc -h command to also know various built-in commands that come with the netcat.

If it’s not installed on your system, you can install it using your system’s package manager. For example, on Ubuntu, you can install it by using the following command:

sudo apt-get install netcat

Step 3: Connecting to the server:

Use the following command for your desired web server, followed by its port number (usually port 80 for HTTP):

nc example.com 80

Replace example .com with the actual name of the website you want to access.

Remember to replace example.com with the actual hostname.

Step 4: Sending the HTTP GET Request:

After connecting to the server, type the following HTTP GET request command, replacing the / with the path you want to access:

GET  /  HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com

• Replace the / and example.com with the actual path and website you want to access.
• Press ENTER twice to send the request.

Step 5: Reading the Response:

After sending the response, the web server will respond with the requested content printed on the terminal.

This response includes HTTP headers, status code, and the desired content of the requested file.

Step 6: Closing the Connection:

Once, you have received the response, you can close the connection by typing Ctrl + C on your keyboard.

Netcat,also known as “nc”, is a powerful Unix-networking utility that enables users to interact with network services through a command-line interface (CLI). It uses both TCP and UDP network protocols for communication and is designed to be a reliable back-end tool to instantly provide network connectivity to other applications and users. Although Netcat is more often known for its use in file transfers and port scanning, it can also act as an HTTP client and send and accept raw HTTP requests.