propstat

Propstat is an XML element defined by the WebDAV protocol (RFC 4918) used in multistatus responses to methods such as PROPFIND and PROPPATCH. It groups a set of properties and associates them with a single HTTP status code, enabling servers to report the outcome for multiple properties efficiently within one response.

A propstat element contains two required children: a prop element, which lists the properties and their values for the resource, and a status element, which specifies the HTTP status code applicable to those properties. There may also be an optional responsedescription element that provides a human-readable explanation of the status or issue.

Propstat is part of the multistatus response format (HTTP 207) used by WebDAV. In a PROPFIND response, a server can include multiple propstat elements for a single resource, each corresponding to a subset of properties that share the same status. This design lets clients determine which properties are available, which ones are missing, and which are restricted, without repeating status information for every property.

In practice, clients parse the multistatus XML to construct a map of property values by resource and to surface any access issues or non-existent properties. Propstat is widely supported in WebDAV implementations and vendor tools, reflecting its role in structured property discovery and manipulation.

See also PROPFIND, PROPPATCH, WebDAV, RFC 4918, Multistatus.