How to render nothing in json?

Question

I'm testing the following method:

  def destroy
    if @article.destroy
      render json nothing: true, message: "removed", status: :ok
    else
      render json: @article, message: "Failed to remove", status: :bad_request
    end
  end

The render json nothing line generates the error

undefined method `json' for #Api::V1::ArticlesController:0x000000074f6148

Changing the line to render json: message: "removed", status: :ok makes no difference. How to render nothing?

Update: I tried the code below, which after deleting responds with No response received, while I would expect the message.

  def destroy
    if @article.destroy
      respond_to do |format|
        format.json { render nothing: true, message: "removed", status: :ok }
      end
    else
      render json: @article, message: "Failed to remove", status: :bad_request
    end
  end

Answer 1

If you really want to not render anything:

head :ok # or any another status, e.g. :created, :accepted, etc

as a parameter, you can add a status code or symbolic status (statuses or just in console Rack::Utils::SYMBOL_TO_STATUS_CODE)

If you want to send a JSON message as response:

render json: { message: "removed" }, status: :ok