How to send a bearer token in a header

Question

I need to send a bearer token in the HTTP headers for API authentication, but I’m not entirely sure of the proper structure and syntax. Could someone provide guidance on the correct format for adding a bearer token to a request header?

Any examples of how this would look in different programming languages, such as JavaScript, Python, or PHP, would be helpful.

Answer 1

To send a bearer token in an HTTP header, you’ll need to include it in the Authorization header with the format Bearer <token>.

JavaScript (using fetch):

fetch("https://api.example.com/data", {
  method: "GET",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN_HERE"
  }
})
.then(response => response.json())
.then(data => console.log(data))
.catch(error => console.error("Error:", error));

Python (using requests library):

import requests

headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN_HERE"
}
response = requests.get("https://api.example.com/data", headers=headers)
print(response.json())

PHP (using curl):

$ch = curl_init("https://api.example.com/data");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
    "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN_HERE"
]);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

echo $response;

• Replace "YOUR_TOKEN_HERE" with your actual token.
• In all the above examples, the Authorization header is set to Bearer followed by the token.

Comments

Love how you covered multiple languages! Maybe throw in a quick explanation of what a bearer token is for those new to API authentication?