body.type — MIME type filtering

The body.type option lets you restrict body parsing to requests whose Content-Type header matches a specific MIME type or a regular expression. When a request's content type does not match the filter, body parsing is skipped — but query and params parsing still occur.

Accepted values

• string — Exact match (e.g. application/json).
• RegExp — Pattern match (e.g. /^text\// or /^multipart\//).

Examples

Exact match

parseData({ body: { type: "application/json" } })

Only requests with Content-Type: application/json (or application/json; charset=utf-8) will have their bodies parsed.

RegExp match (wildcard)

parseData({ body: { type: /^text\// } })

Matches text/plain, text/csv, etc.

Charset handling

body.type performs a MIME match that tolerates charset parameters.
application/json; charset=utf-8 will match application/json.

Behavior notes

• If body.type is set and the content type does not match:
  • req.body remains undefined
  • req.files remains undefined
  • req.query and req.params are still parsed per configuration
• Use body.type to harden endpoints that should accept only a specific payload format (e.g., strict JSON APIs).

Best practices

• Use RegExp for broad families (e.g., /^image\// or /^multipart\//).
• Combine body.type with limit and inflate for precise input control.