title: API: Update a zettel
role: manual
tags: #api #manual #zettelstore
syntax: zmk

Updating metadata and content of a zettel is technically quite similar to [[creating a new zettel|00001012053200]].
In both cases you must provide the data for the new or updated zettel in the body of the HTTP request.

One difference is the endpoint.
The [[endpoint|00001012920000]] to update a zettel is ''/z/{ID}'', where ''{ID}'' is a placeholder for the [[zettel identifier|00001006050000]].
You must send a HTTP PUT request to that endpoint.

The zettel must be encoded in a [[plain|00001006000000]] format: first comes the [[metadata|00001006010000]] and the following content is separated by an empty line.
This is the same format as used by storing zettel within a [[directory box|00001006010000]].

```
# curl -X PUT --data $'title: Updated Note\n\nUpdated content.' http://127.0.0.1:23123/z/00001012054200
```

=== Data input
Alternatively, you may encode the zettel as a parseable object / a [[symbolic expression|00001012930500]] by providing the query parameter ''enc=data''.
The encoding is the same as the data output encoding when you [[retrieve a zettel|00001012053300#data-output]].

The encoding for [[access rights|00001012921200]] must be given, but is ignored.
You may encode computed or property [[metadata keys|00001006020000]], but these are also ignored.

=== HTTP Status codes
; ''204''
: Update was successful, there is no body in the response.
; ''400''
: Request was not valid.
  For example, the request body was not valid.
; ''403''
: You are not allowed to delete the given zettel.
; ''404''
: Zettel not found.
  You probably used a zettel identifier that is not used in the Zettelstore.