getblockheader

How to use it

// yarn add @tatumio/tatum

import { TatumSDK, BitcoinCash, Network } from '@tatumio/tatum'

const tatum = await TatumSDK.init<BitcoinCash>({ network: Network.BITCOIN_CASH })

const result = await tatum.rpc.getBlockHeader(
  '0000000000000000001b4fedbfb3672963c37f965686c2bf6350e32e77f9941f',
  true,
)

await tatum.destroy() // Destroy Tatum SDK - needed for stopping background jobs

Overview

getblockheader is a method that returns information about a specified block header. This method is useful for obtaining a high-level view of a specific block, including its hash, previous block hash, merkle root, timestamp, difficulty target, and nonce, without having to fetch the entire block's contents.

Parameters

• blockhash: The hash of the block for which the header information is requested. This is a string parameter.

  Example: "0000000000000000001b4fedbfb3672963c37f965686c2bf6350e32e77f9941f"

• verbose (optional): A boolean parameter that specifies whether to return the header information in a JSON object (true) or as a serialized hex-encoded string (false). Default is true.

  Example: true

Return Object

If verbose is set to true (default), the return object is a JSON object containing the following fields:

• hash: The hash of the block.
• confirmations: The number of confirmations for the block.
• height: The height of the block in the block chain.
• version: The block version.
• versionHex: The block version formatted as a hex string.
• merkleroot: The merkle root of the block.
• time: The block timestamp in UNIX format.
• mediantime: The median block time of the last 11 blocks in UNIX timestamp format.
• nonce: The nonce value for the block.
• bits: The encoded difficulty target for the block.
• difficulty: The actual difficulty target for the block as a decimal number.
• chainwork: The total work in the block chain up to this block.
• nTx: The number of transactions in the block.
• previousblockhash: The hash of the previous block.
• nextblockhash: The hash of the next block (only present if there is a next block).

If verbose is set to false, the return object is a serialized hex-encoded string of the block header.

JSON Examples

Request example:

{% code overflow="wrap" lineNumbers="true" %}

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "getblockheader",
  "params": ["0000000000000000001b4fedbfb3672963c37f965686c2bf6350e32e77f9941f", true],
  "id": 1
}

{% endcode %}

Response example:

{% code overflow="wrap" lineNumbers="true" %}

{
  "result": {
    "hash": "0000000000000000001b4fedbfb3672963c37f965686c2bf6350e32e77f9941f",
    "confirmations": 199945,
    "height": 587123,
    "version": 549453824,
    "versionHex": "20c00000",
    "merkleroot": "06bc20da616f96fef435445cbf1bbcc9ff00896dd30c73b875aed7e06902666d",
    "time": 1564152126,
    "mediantime": 1564151358,
    "nonce": 444284193,
    "bits": "171f3a08",
    "difficulty": 9013786945891.682,
    "chainwork": "00000000000000000000000000000000000000000768b223a5622f8f0f1ac0a0",
    "nTx": 1820,
    "previousblockhash": "0000000000000000001683477bc3c17ab029412183952cb4a37f49968e16e6a8",
    "nextblockhash": "00000000000000000007aeb07bc2fe4dbd0b55fc4be751050589b59fe95352fc"
  },
  "error": null,
  "id": 1
}

{% endcode %}

\