How to force parse request body as plain text instead of json in Express?

38

votes

I am using nodejs + Express (v3) like this:

app.use(express.bodyParser());
app.route('/some/route', function(req, res) {
  var text = req.body; // I expect text to be a string but it is a JSON
});

I checked the request headers and the content-type is missing. Even if "Content-Type" is "text/plain" it is parsing as a JSON it seems. Is there anyway to tell the middleware to always parse the body as a plain text string instead of json? Earlier versions of req used to have req.rawBody that would get around this issue but now it does not anymore. What is the easiest way to force parse body as plain text/string in Express?

jsonnode.jsexpresscontent-typeconnect

35

votes

In express 4.x you can use the text parser from bodyParser https://www.npmjs.org/package/body-parser

just add in app.js

app.use(bodyParser.text());

Also in the desired route

router.all('/',function(req,res){
    console.log(req.body);

})

33

votes

By default bodyParser.text() handles only text/plain. Change the type options to include */json or */*.

app.use('/some/route', bodyParser.text({type: '*/*'}), function(req, res) {
  var text = req.body; // I expect text to be a string but it is a JSON
});

//or more generally:
app.use(bodyParser.text({type:"*/*"}));

You can find the docs here

28

votes

If you remove the use of the bodyParser() middleware, it should be text. You can view the bodyParser docs for more info: http://www.senchalabs.org/connect/middleware-bodyParser.html

Remove this line:

app.use(express.bodyParser());

EDIT:

Looks like you're right. You can create your own rawBody middleware in the meantime. However, you still need to disable the bodyParser(). Note: req.body will still be undefined.

Here is a demo:

app.js

var express = require('express')
  , http = require('http')
  , path = require('path')
  , util = require('util');

var app = express();

function rawBody(req, res, next) {
  req.setEncoding('utf8');
  req.rawBody = '';
  req.on('data', function(chunk) {
    req.rawBody += chunk;
  });
  req.on('end', function(){
    next();
  });
}

app.configure(function(){
  app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 3000);
  app.use(rawBody);
  //app.use(express.bodyParser());
  app.use(express.methodOverride());
  app.use(app.router);
});

app.post('/test', function(req, res) {
  console.log(req.is('text/*'));
  console.log(req.is('json'));
  console.log('RB: ' + req.rawBody);
  console.log('B: ' + JSON.stringify(req.body));
  res.send('got it');
});

http.createServer(app).listen(app.get('port'), function(){
  console.log("Express server listening on port " + app.get('port'));
});

test.js

var request = require('request');

request({
  method: 'POST',
  uri: 'http://localhost:3000/test',
  body: {'msg': 'secret'},
  json: true
}, function (error, response, body) {
  console.log('code: '+ response.statusCode);
  console.log(body);
})

Hope this helps.

11

votes

Express understands by content-type how to decode a body. It must have specific decoders in middlewares, which is embedded into the library from 4.x:

app.use(express.text())
app.use(express.json())

3

votes

You can use the plainTextParser (https://www.npmjs.com/package/plaintextparser) middleware..

let plainTextParser = require('plainTextParser');
app.use(plainTextParser());

or

app.post(YOUR_ROUTE, plainTextParser, function(req, res) {             
  let text = req.text;

  //DO SOMETHING....
});

1

votes

I did it:

router.route('/')
.post(function(req,res){
    var chunk = '';

    req.on('data', function(data){
        chunk += data; // here you get your raw data.
    })        

    req.on('end', function(){

        console.log(chunk); //just show in console
    })
    res.send(null);

})

0

votes

Make sure the version of express and bodyParser has been upgraded to the appropriate versions. Express ˜4.x and bodyParser ˜1.18.x. That should do it. With that in place the following should work

app.use(bodyParser.text());

0

votes

Two important things to achieve this.

You need to add the text middleware in order to process text in the body
You need to set the content type by adding the right header "Content-type: text/plain" in the request

Here is the sample code for both.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const bodyParser = require('body-parser')
//This is the needed text parser middleware 
app.use(bodyParser.text()); 

app.post('/api/health/', (req, res) => {
    res.send(req.body);
});

const port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
app.listen(port, () => console.log(`Listening on ${port} ${new Date(Date.now())}`));

Save this as index.js.

Install dependencies.

npm i -S express 
npm i -S body-parser

Run it.

node index.js

Now send a request to it.

curl -s -XPOST -H "Content-type: text/plain" -d 'Any text or  json or whatever {"key":value}' 'localhost:3000/api/health'

You should be able to see it sending back whatever you posted.

How to force parse request body as plain text instead of json in Express?

8 Answers

EDIT: