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To get an object's retention configuration you make a GET request that is
scoped to the object, and you use the retention query string parameter. If the
object has a retention configuration, the configuration is returned in an XML
document in the response body. Otherwise, the request fails with a
404 Not Found response.
You must have READ permission to get an object's retention configuration.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-07 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Get object retention\n\nTo get an object's [retention configuration](/storage/docs/object-lock) you make a GET request that is\nscoped to the object, and you use the `retention` query string parameter. If the\nobject has a retention configuration, the configuration is returned in an XML\ndocument in the response body. Otherwise, the request fails with a\n`404 Not Found` response.\n\nYou must have `READ` permission to get an object's retention configuration.\n\nQuery string parameters\n-----------------------\n\nSee [signed URL query string parameters](/storage/docs/authentication/canonical-requests#required-query-parameters) for information on the parameters\nyou include when creating and using [signed URLs](/storage/docs/access-control/signed-urls).\n\nRequest headers\n---------------\n\nSee [common request headers](/storage/docs/xml-api/get-object#request-headers).\n\nRequest body elements\n---------------------\n\nThis request does not include an XML document in the request body.\n\nRequest syntax\n--------------\n\nThe following syntax applies to GET Object requests that use the\n`retention` query string parameter. \n\n```\nGET /OBJECT_NAME?retention&generation=GENERATION HTTP/1.1\nHost: BUCKET_NAME.storage.googleapis.com\nContent-Length: 0\nContent-Type: TYPE\nAuthorization: AUTHENTICATION_STRING\n```\n\nResponse headers\n----------------\n\nThe request can return a variety of response headers depending on the request\nheaders you use.\n\nResponse body elements\n----------------------\n\nThe following response body elements are applicable only if you use the\n`retention` query string parameter.\n\nExamples\n--------\n\nThe following example retrieves the retention configuration for an object named\n`tokyo.jpg`.\n\n**Request** \n\n```\nGET /tokyo.jpg?retention HTTP/1.1\nHost: travel-maps.storage.googleapis.com\nContent-Length: 0\nAuthorization: Bearer ya29.AHES6ZRVmB7fkLtd1XTmq6mo0S1wqZZi3-Lh_s-6Uw7p8vtgSwg\n```\n\n**Response** \n\n```\nHTTP/1.1 200 OK\nContent-Length: 138\nContent-Type: application/xml; charset=UTF-8\nDate: Tue, 01 Nov 2016 17:12:32 GMT\n\n\u003c?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?\u003e\n\u003cRetention\u003e\n \u003cMode\u003e\n GOVERNANCE\n \u003c/Mode\u003e\n \u003cRetainUntilDate\u003e\n 2028-04-12T23:20:00Z\n \u003c/RetainUntilDate\u003e\n\u003c/Retention\u003e\n```"]]
