Max-Forwards

Max-Forwards

This header is used only with the TRACE method, to limit the number of proxies or other intermediaries that a request goes through. Its value is an integer. Each application that receives a TRACE request with this header should decrement the value before it forwards the request along.

If the value is zero when the application receives the request, it should send back a 200 OK response to the request, with an entity body containing the original request. If the Max-Forwards header is missing from a TRACE request, assume that there is no maximum number of forwards.

For other HTTP methods, this header should be ignored. See Section 3.3 for more on the TRACE method.