Python requests Module Report

The requests module in Python is a popular and user-friendly library for making HTTP requests. It provides a simple and intuitive API for sending HTTP requests and handling responses. This report covers installation, basic usage, and practical examples to help you understand how to use the requests library effectively.

Introduction

The requests library is designed to simplify the process of sending HTTP requests and handling responses. It abstracts the complexities of HTTP protocols and provides a clean and elegant API. It supports various HTTP methods, including GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, and more.

Installation

To install the requests library, you can use pip:

pip install requests

Basic Usage

Here’s a basic overview of how to use the requests library to make HTTP requests and handle responses.

Example Code

import requests

# Sending a simple GET request
response = requests.get('https://www.example.com')

# Print the status code
print(response.status_code)

# Print the response content
print(response.text)

Examples

Sending a GET Request

To send a GET request, use the requests.get() method. This is commonly used to retrieve data from a URL.

import requests

response = requests.get('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1')

print('Status Code:', response.status_code)
print('Response JSON:', response.json())

Sending a POST Request

To send a POST request with data, use the requests.post() method. This is typically used to submit data to a server.

import requests

url = 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts'
data = {
    'title': 'foo',
    'body': 'bar',
    'userId': 1
}

response = requests.post(url, json=data)

print('Status Code:', response.status_code)
print('Response JSON:', response.json())

Handling Query Parameters

To include query parameters in your request, pass them as a dictionary to the params argument.

import requests

params = {'q': 'python requests', 'sort': 'stars'}
response = requests.get('https://api.github.com/search/repositories', params=params)

print('Status Code:', response.status_code)
print('Response JSON:', response.json())

Handling Form Data

For sending form data, use the data argument. This is useful for submitting forms.

import requests

url = 'https://httpbin.org/post'
form_data = {'username': 'user', 'password': 'pass'}

response = requests.post(url, data=form_data)

print('Status Code:', response.status_code)
print('Response JSON:', response.json())

Handling JSON Data

To send JSON data in a POST request, use the json argument. This automatically sets the Content-Type to application/json.

import requests

url = 'https://httpbin.org/post'
json_data = {'key1': 'value1', 'key2': 'value2'}

response = requests.post(url, json=json_data)

print('Status Code:', response.status_code)
print('Response JSON:', response.json())

Handling Headers

You can pass custom headers using the headers argument. This is useful for setting authorization tokens or custom content types.

import requests

url = 'https://httpbin.org/headers'
headers = {'Authorization': 'Bearer your_token'}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)

print('Status Code:', response.status_code)
print('Response JSON:', response.json())

Handling Cookies

To send cookies with your request, use the cookies argument. This can be useful for maintaining sessions.

import requests

url = 'https://httpbin.org/cookies'
cookies = {'session_id': 'abc123'}

response = requests.get(url, cookies=cookies)

print('Status Code:', response.status_code)
print('Response JSON:', response.json())

Error Handling

Handling errors is crucial for robust applications. The requests library provides various ways to handle exceptions.

Example: Basic Error Handling

import requests
from requests.exceptions import HTTPError, RequestException

url = 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1'

try:
    response = requests.get(url)
    response.raise_for_status()  # Raise HTTPError for bad responses (4xx or 5xx)
    print('Response JSON:', response.json())
except HTTPError as http_err:
    print(f'HTTP error occurred: {http_err}')
except RequestException as err:
    print(f'Error occurred: {err}')

Conclusion

The requests library provides a simple and powerful way to make HTTP requests in Python. It supports various HTTP methods, handles parameters, headers, cookies, and provides facilities for robust error handling. With its intuitive API, requests is an excellent choice for interacting with web services and APIs.

For more detailed information and advanced usage, refer to the Requests documentation.