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Georg Brandl8175dae2010-11-29 14:53:15 +00001:mod:`urllib.request` --- Extensible library for opening URLs
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00002=============================================================
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00003
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00004.. module:: urllib.request
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00005 :synopsis: Next generation URL opening library.
Jeremy Hyltone2573162009-03-31 14:38:13 +00006.. moduleauthor:: Jeremy Hylton <jeremy@alum.mit.edu>
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00007.. sectionauthor:: Moshe Zadka <moshez@users.sourceforge.net>
8
9
Georg Brandl0f7ede42008-06-23 11:23:31 +000010The :mod:`urllib.request` module defines functions and classes which help in
11opening URLs (mostly HTTP) in a complex world --- basic and digest
12authentication, redirections, cookies and more.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000013
Antoine Pitrou79ecd762010-09-29 11:24:21 +000014
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +000015The :mod:`urllib.request` module defines the following functions:
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000016
17
Antoine Pitrou803e6d62010-10-13 10:36:15 +000018.. function:: urlopen(url, data=None[, timeout], *, cafile=None, capath=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000019
Jeremy Hyltone2573162009-03-31 14:38:13 +000020 Open the URL *url*, which can be either a string or a
21 :class:`Request` object.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000022
Jeremy Hyltone2573162009-03-31 14:38:13 +000023 *data* may be a string specifying additional data to send to the
24 server, or ``None`` if no such data is needed. Currently HTTP
25 requests are the only ones that use *data*; the HTTP request will
26 be a POST instead of a GET when the *data* parameter is provided.
27 *data* should be a buffer in the standard
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000028 :mimetype:`application/x-www-form-urlencoded` format. The
Georg Brandl7fe2c4a2008-12-05 07:32:56 +000029 :func:`urllib.parse.urlencode` function takes a mapping or sequence
Senthil Kumaran6cbe4272010-08-21 16:08:32 +000030 of 2-tuples and returns a string in this format. urllib.request module uses
Senthil Kumaran916bd382010-10-15 12:55:19 +000031 HTTP/1.1 and includes ``Connection:close`` header in its HTTP requests.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000032
Jeremy Hyltone2573162009-03-31 14:38:13 +000033 The optional *timeout* parameter specifies a timeout in seconds for
34 blocking operations like the connection attempt (if not specified,
35 the global default timeout setting will be used). This actually
Senthil Kumaranc08d9072010-10-05 18:46:56 +000036 only works for HTTP, HTTPS and FTP connections.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000037
Antoine Pitrou803e6d62010-10-13 10:36:15 +000038 The optional *cafile* and *capath* parameters specify a set of trusted
39 CA certificates for HTTPS requests. *cafile* should point to a single
40 file containing a bundle of CA certificates, whereas *capath* should
41 point to a directory of hashed certificate files. More information can
42 be found in :meth:`ssl.SSLContext.load_verify_locations`.
43
44 .. warning::
45 If neither *cafile* nor *capath* is specified, an HTTPS request
46 will not do any verification of the server's certificate.
47
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +000048 This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods from
49 the :mod:`urllib.response` module
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000050
Jeremy Hyltone2573162009-03-31 14:38:13 +000051 * :meth:`geturl` --- return the URL of the resource retrieved,
52 commonly used to determine if a redirect was followed
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000053
Georg Brandl2dd01042009-02-27 16:46:46 +000054 * :meth:`info` --- return the meta-information of the page, such as headers,
Senthil Kumaran13a7eb42010-06-28 17:31:40 +000055 in the form of an :func:`email.message_from_string` instance (see
56 `Quick Reference to HTTP Headers <http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/http.html>`_)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000057
58 Raises :exc:`URLError` on errors.
59
Georg Brandl2dd01042009-02-27 16:46:46 +000060 Note that ``None`` may be returned if no handler handles the request (though
61 the default installed global :class:`OpenerDirector` uses
62 :class:`UnknownHandler` to ensure this never happens).
63
Senthil Kumarana51a1b32009-10-18 01:42:33 +000064 In addition, default installed :class:`ProxyHandler` makes sure the requests
65 are handled through the proxy when they are set.
66
Georg Brandl2dd01042009-02-27 16:46:46 +000067 The legacy ``urllib.urlopen`` function from Python 2.6 and earlier has been
68 discontinued; :func:`urlopen` corresponds to the old ``urllib2.urlopen``.
69 Proxy handling, which was done by passing a dictionary parameter to
70 ``urllib.urlopen``, can be obtained by using :class:`ProxyHandler` objects.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000071
Antoine Pitrou803e6d62010-10-13 10:36:15 +000072 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
73 *cafile* and *capath* were added.
74
Antoine Pitroud5323212010-10-22 18:19:07 +000075 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
76 HTTPS virtual hosts are now supported if possible (that is, if
77 :data:`ssl.HAS_SNI` is true).
78
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000079.. function:: install_opener(opener)
80
81 Install an :class:`OpenerDirector` instance as the default global opener.
82 Installing an opener is only necessary if you want urlopen to use that opener;
83 otherwise, simply call :meth:`OpenerDirector.open` instead of :func:`urlopen`.
84 The code does not check for a real :class:`OpenerDirector`, and any class with
85 the appropriate interface will work.
86
87
88.. function:: build_opener([handler, ...])
89
90 Return an :class:`OpenerDirector` instance, which chains the handlers in the
91 order given. *handler*\s can be either instances of :class:`BaseHandler`, or
92 subclasses of :class:`BaseHandler` (in which case it must be possible to call
93 the constructor without any parameters). Instances of the following classes
94 will be in front of the *handler*\s, unless the *handler*\s contain them,
95 instances of them or subclasses of them: :class:`ProxyHandler`,
96 :class:`UnknownHandler`, :class:`HTTPHandler`, :class:`HTTPDefaultErrorHandler`,
97 :class:`HTTPRedirectHandler`, :class:`FTPHandler`, :class:`FileHandler`,
98 :class:`HTTPErrorProcessor`.
99
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000100 If the Python installation has SSL support (i.e., if the :mod:`ssl` module
101 can be imported), :class:`HTTPSHandler` will also be added.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000102
Georg Brandle6bcc912008-05-12 18:05:20 +0000103 A :class:`BaseHandler` subclass may also change its :attr:`handler_order`
104 member variable to modify its position in the handlers list.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000105
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000106
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +0000107.. function:: pathname2url(path)
Christian Heimes292d3512008-02-03 16:51:08 +0000108
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +0000109 Convert the pathname *path* from the local syntax for a path to the form used in
110 the path component of a URL. This does not produce a complete URL. The return
111 value will already be quoted using the :func:`quote` function.
Christian Heimes292d3512008-02-03 16:51:08 +0000112
113
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +0000114.. function:: url2pathname(path)
115
Senthil Kumaranf0769e82010-08-09 19:53:52 +0000116 Convert the path component *path* from a percent-encoded URL to the local syntax for a
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +0000117 path. This does not accept a complete URL. This function uses :func:`unquote`
118 to decode *path*.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000119
Senthil Kumaran7e557a62010-02-26 00:53:23 +0000120.. function:: getproxies()
121
122 This helper function returns a dictionary of scheme to proxy server URL
123 mappings. It scans the environment for variables named ``<scheme>_proxy``
124 for all operating systems first, and when it cannot find it, looks for proxy
125 information from Mac OSX System Configuration for Mac OS X and Windows
126 Systems Registry for Windows.
127
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000128
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000129The following classes are provided:
130
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000131.. class:: Request(url, data=None, headers={}, origin_req_host=None, unverifiable=False)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000132
133 This class is an abstraction of a URL request.
134
135 *url* should be a string containing a valid URL.
136
Jeremy Hyltone2573162009-03-31 14:38:13 +0000137 *data* may be a string specifying additional data to send to the
138 server, or ``None`` if no such data is needed. Currently HTTP
139 requests are the only ones that use *data*; the HTTP request will
140 be a POST instead of a GET when the *data* parameter is provided.
141 *data* should be a buffer in the standard
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000142 :mimetype:`application/x-www-form-urlencoded` format. The
Georg Brandl7fe2c4a2008-12-05 07:32:56 +0000143 :func:`urllib.parse.urlencode` function takes a mapping or sequence
144 of 2-tuples and returns a string in this format.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000145
Jeremy Hyltone2573162009-03-31 14:38:13 +0000146 *headers* should be a dictionary, and will be treated as if
147 :meth:`add_header` was called with each key and value as arguments.
148 This is often used to "spoof" the ``User-Agent`` header, which is
149 used by a browser to identify itself -- some HTTP servers only
150 allow requests coming from common browsers as opposed to scripts.
151 For example, Mozilla Firefox may identify itself as ``"Mozilla/5.0
152 (X11; U; Linux i686) Gecko/20071127 Firefox/2.0.0.11"``, while
153 :mod:`urllib`'s default user agent string is
154 ``"Python-urllib/2.6"`` (on Python 2.6).
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000155
Jeremy Hyltone2573162009-03-31 14:38:13 +0000156 The final two arguments are only of interest for correct handling
157 of third-party HTTP cookies:
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000158
Jeremy Hyltone2573162009-03-31 14:38:13 +0000159 *origin_req_host* should be the request-host of the origin
160 transaction, as defined by :rfc:`2965`. It defaults to
161 ``http.cookiejar.request_host(self)``. This is the host name or IP
162 address of the original request that was initiated by the user.
163 For example, if the request is for an image in an HTML document,
164 this should be the request-host of the request for the page
Georg Brandl24420152008-05-26 16:32:26 +0000165 containing the image.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000166
Jeremy Hyltone2573162009-03-31 14:38:13 +0000167 *unverifiable* should indicate whether the request is unverifiable,
168 as defined by RFC 2965. It defaults to False. An unverifiable
169 request is one whose URL the user did not have the option to
170 approve. For example, if the request is for an image in an HTML
171 document, and the user had no option to approve the automatic
172 fetching of the image, this should be true.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000173
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000174
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000175.. class:: OpenerDirector()
176
177 The :class:`OpenerDirector` class opens URLs via :class:`BaseHandler`\ s chained
178 together. It manages the chaining of handlers, and recovery from errors.
179
180
181.. class:: BaseHandler()
182
183 This is the base class for all registered handlers --- and handles only the
184 simple mechanics of registration.
185
186
187.. class:: HTTPDefaultErrorHandler()
188
189 A class which defines a default handler for HTTP error responses; all responses
190 are turned into :exc:`HTTPError` exceptions.
191
192
193.. class:: HTTPRedirectHandler()
194
195 A class to handle redirections.
196
197
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000198.. class:: HTTPCookieProcessor(cookiejar=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000199
200 A class to handle HTTP Cookies.
201
202
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000203.. class:: ProxyHandler(proxies=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000204
205 Cause requests to go through a proxy. If *proxies* is given, it must be a
206 dictionary mapping protocol names to URLs of proxies. The default is to read the
207 list of proxies from the environment variables :envvar:`<protocol>_proxy`.
Senthil Kumarana51a1b32009-10-18 01:42:33 +0000208 If no proxy environment variables are set, in a Windows environment, proxy
209 settings are obtained from the registry's Internet Settings section and in a
210 Mac OS X environment, proxy information is retrieved from the OS X System
211 Configuration Framework.
212
Christian Heimese25f35e2008-03-20 10:49:03 +0000213 To disable autodetected proxy pass an empty dictionary.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000214
215
216.. class:: HTTPPasswordMgr()
217
218 Keep a database of ``(realm, uri) -> (user, password)`` mappings.
219
220
221.. class:: HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm()
222
223 Keep a database of ``(realm, uri) -> (user, password)`` mappings. A realm of
224 ``None`` is considered a catch-all realm, which is searched if no other realm
225 fits.
226
227
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000228.. class:: AbstractBasicAuthHandler(password_mgr=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000229
230 This is a mixin class that helps with HTTP authentication, both to the remote
231 host and to a proxy. *password_mgr*, if given, should be something that is
232 compatible with :class:`HTTPPasswordMgr`; refer to section
233 :ref:`http-password-mgr` for information on the interface that must be
234 supported.
235
236
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000237.. class:: HTTPBasicAuthHandler(password_mgr=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000238
239 Handle authentication with the remote host. *password_mgr*, if given, should be
240 something that is compatible with :class:`HTTPPasswordMgr`; refer to section
241 :ref:`http-password-mgr` for information on the interface that must be
242 supported.
243
244
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000245.. class:: ProxyBasicAuthHandler(password_mgr=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000246
247 Handle authentication with the proxy. *password_mgr*, if given, should be
248 something that is compatible with :class:`HTTPPasswordMgr`; refer to section
249 :ref:`http-password-mgr` for information on the interface that must be
250 supported.
251
252
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000253.. class:: AbstractDigestAuthHandler(password_mgr=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000254
255 This is a mixin class that helps with HTTP authentication, both to the remote
256 host and to a proxy. *password_mgr*, if given, should be something that is
257 compatible with :class:`HTTPPasswordMgr`; refer to section
258 :ref:`http-password-mgr` for information on the interface that must be
259 supported.
260
261
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000262.. class:: HTTPDigestAuthHandler(password_mgr=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000263
264 Handle authentication with the remote host. *password_mgr*, if given, should be
265 something that is compatible with :class:`HTTPPasswordMgr`; refer to section
266 :ref:`http-password-mgr` for information on the interface that must be
267 supported.
268
269
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000270.. class:: ProxyDigestAuthHandler(password_mgr=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000271
272 Handle authentication with the proxy. *password_mgr*, if given, should be
273 something that is compatible with :class:`HTTPPasswordMgr`; refer to section
274 :ref:`http-password-mgr` for information on the interface that must be
275 supported.
276
277
278.. class:: HTTPHandler()
279
280 A class to handle opening of HTTP URLs.
281
282
Antoine Pitrou803e6d62010-10-13 10:36:15 +0000283.. class:: HTTPSHandler(debuglevel=0, context=None, check_hostname=None)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000284
Antoine Pitrou803e6d62010-10-13 10:36:15 +0000285 A class to handle opening of HTTPS URLs. *context* and *check_hostname*
286 have the same meaning as in :class:`http.client.HTTPSConnection`.
287
288 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
289 *context* and *check_hostname* were added.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000290
291
292.. class:: FileHandler()
293
294 Open local files.
295
296
297.. class:: FTPHandler()
298
299 Open FTP URLs.
300
301
302.. class:: CacheFTPHandler()
303
304 Open FTP URLs, keeping a cache of open FTP connections to minimize delays.
305
306
307.. class:: UnknownHandler()
308
309 A catch-all class to handle unknown URLs.
310
311
312.. _request-objects:
313
314Request Objects
315---------------
316
Jeremy Hyltone2573162009-03-31 14:38:13 +0000317The following methods describe :class:`Request`'s public interface,
318and so all may be overridden in subclasses. It also defines several
319public attributes that can be used by clients to inspect the parsed
320request.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000321
Jeremy Hyltone2573162009-03-31 14:38:13 +0000322.. attribute:: Request.full_url
323
324 The original URL passed to the constructor.
325
326.. attribute:: Request.type
327
328 The URI scheme.
329
330.. attribute:: Request.host
331
332 The URI authority, typically a host, but may also contain a port
333 separated by a colon.
334
335.. attribute:: Request.origin_req_host
336
337 The original host for the request, without port.
338
339.. attribute:: Request.selector
340
341 The URI path. If the :class:`Request` uses a proxy, then selector
342 will be the full url that is passed to the proxy.
343
344.. attribute:: Request.data
345
346 The entity body for the request, or None if not specified.
347
348.. attribute:: Request.unverifiable
349
350 boolean, indicates whether the request is unverifiable as defined
351 by RFC 2965.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000352
353.. method:: Request.add_data(data)
354
355 Set the :class:`Request` data to *data*. This is ignored by all handlers except
356 HTTP handlers --- and there it should be a byte string, and will change the
357 request to be ``POST`` rather than ``GET``.
358
359
360.. method:: Request.get_method()
361
362 Return a string indicating the HTTP request method. This is only meaningful for
363 HTTP requests, and currently always returns ``'GET'`` or ``'POST'``.
364
365
366.. method:: Request.has_data()
367
368 Return whether the instance has a non-\ ``None`` data.
369
370
371.. method:: Request.get_data()
372
373 Return the instance's data.
374
375
376.. method:: Request.add_header(key, val)
377
378 Add another header to the request. Headers are currently ignored by all
379 handlers except HTTP handlers, where they are added to the list of headers sent
380 to the server. Note that there cannot be more than one header with the same
381 name, and later calls will overwrite previous calls in case the *key* collides.
382 Currently, this is no loss of HTTP functionality, since all headers which have
383 meaning when used more than once have a (header-specific) way of gaining the
384 same functionality using only one header.
385
386
387.. method:: Request.add_unredirected_header(key, header)
388
389 Add a header that will not be added to a redirected request.
390
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000391
392.. method:: Request.has_header(header)
393
394 Return whether the instance has the named header (checks both regular and
395 unredirected).
396
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000397
398.. method:: Request.get_full_url()
399
400 Return the URL given in the constructor.
401
402
403.. method:: Request.get_type()
404
405 Return the type of the URL --- also known as the scheme.
406
407
408.. method:: Request.get_host()
409
410 Return the host to which a connection will be made.
411
412
413.. method:: Request.get_selector()
414
415 Return the selector --- the part of the URL that is sent to the server.
416
417
418.. method:: Request.set_proxy(host, type)
419
420 Prepare the request by connecting to a proxy server. The *host* and *type* will
421 replace those of the instance, and the instance's selector will be the original
422 URL given in the constructor.
423
424
425.. method:: Request.get_origin_req_host()
426
427 Return the request-host of the origin transaction, as defined by :rfc:`2965`.
428 See the documentation for the :class:`Request` constructor.
429
430
431.. method:: Request.is_unverifiable()
432
433 Return whether the request is unverifiable, as defined by RFC 2965. See the
434 documentation for the :class:`Request` constructor.
435
436
437.. _opener-director-objects:
438
439OpenerDirector Objects
440----------------------
441
442:class:`OpenerDirector` instances have the following methods:
443
444
445.. method:: OpenerDirector.add_handler(handler)
446
447 *handler* should be an instance of :class:`BaseHandler`. The following methods
448 are searched, and added to the possible chains (note that HTTP errors are a
449 special case).
450
451 * :meth:`protocol_open` --- signal that the handler knows how to open *protocol*
452 URLs.
453
454 * :meth:`http_error_type` --- signal that the handler knows how to handle HTTP
455 errors with HTTP error code *type*.
456
457 * :meth:`protocol_error` --- signal that the handler knows how to handle errors
458 from (non-\ ``http``) *protocol*.
459
460 * :meth:`protocol_request` --- signal that the handler knows how to pre-process
461 *protocol* requests.
462
463 * :meth:`protocol_response` --- signal that the handler knows how to
464 post-process *protocol* responses.
465
466
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000467.. method:: OpenerDirector.open(url, data=None[, timeout])
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000468
469 Open the given *url* (which can be a request object or a string), optionally
Alexandre Vassalotti5f8ced22008-05-16 00:03:33 +0000470 passing the given *data*. Arguments, return values and exceptions raised are
471 the same as those of :func:`urlopen` (which simply calls the :meth:`open`
472 method on the currently installed global :class:`OpenerDirector`). The
473 optional *timeout* parameter specifies a timeout in seconds for blocking
Georg Brandlf78e02b2008-06-10 17:40:04 +0000474 operations like the connection attempt (if not specified, the global default
Georg Brandl325524e2010-05-21 20:57:33 +0000475 timeout setting will be used). The timeout feature actually works only for
Senthil Kumaranc08d9072010-10-05 18:46:56 +0000476 HTTP, HTTPS and FTP connections).
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000477
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000478
Georg Brandl7f01a132009-09-16 15:58:14 +0000479.. method:: OpenerDirector.error(proto, *args)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000480
481 Handle an error of the given protocol. This will call the registered error
482 handlers for the given protocol with the given arguments (which are protocol
483 specific). The HTTP protocol is a special case which uses the HTTP response
484 code to determine the specific error handler; refer to the :meth:`http_error_\*`
485 methods of the handler classes.
486
487 Return values and exceptions raised are the same as those of :func:`urlopen`.
488
489OpenerDirector objects open URLs in three stages:
490
491The order in which these methods are called within each stage is determined by
492sorting the handler instances.
493
494#. Every handler with a method named like :meth:`protocol_request` has that
495 method called to pre-process the request.
496
497#. Handlers with a method named like :meth:`protocol_open` are called to handle
498 the request. This stage ends when a handler either returns a non-\ :const:`None`
499 value (ie. a response), or raises an exception (usually :exc:`URLError`).
500 Exceptions are allowed to propagate.
501
502 In fact, the above algorithm is first tried for methods named
503 :meth:`default_open`. If all such methods return :const:`None`, the algorithm
504 is repeated for methods named like :meth:`protocol_open`. If all such methods
505 return :const:`None`, the algorithm is repeated for methods named
506 :meth:`unknown_open`.
507
508 Note that the implementation of these methods may involve calls of the parent
Georg Brandla5eacee2010-07-23 16:55:26 +0000509 :class:`OpenerDirector` instance's :meth:`~OpenerDirector.open` and
510 :meth:`~OpenerDirector.error` methods.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000511
512#. Every handler with a method named like :meth:`protocol_response` has that
513 method called to post-process the response.
514
515
516.. _base-handler-objects:
517
518BaseHandler Objects
519-------------------
520
521:class:`BaseHandler` objects provide a couple of methods that are directly
522useful, and others that are meant to be used by derived classes. These are
523intended for direct use:
524
525
526.. method:: BaseHandler.add_parent(director)
527
528 Add a director as parent.
529
530
531.. method:: BaseHandler.close()
532
533 Remove any parents.
534
535The following members and methods should only be used by classes derived from
536:class:`BaseHandler`.
537
538.. note::
539
540 The convention has been adopted that subclasses defining
541 :meth:`protocol_request` or :meth:`protocol_response` methods are named
542 :class:`\*Processor`; all others are named :class:`\*Handler`.
543
544
545.. attribute:: BaseHandler.parent
546
547 A valid :class:`OpenerDirector`, which can be used to open using a different
548 protocol, or handle errors.
549
550
551.. method:: BaseHandler.default_open(req)
552
553 This method is *not* defined in :class:`BaseHandler`, but subclasses should
554 define it if they want to catch all URLs.
555
556 This method, if implemented, will be called by the parent
557 :class:`OpenerDirector`. It should return a file-like object as described in
558 the return value of the :meth:`open` of :class:`OpenerDirector`, or ``None``.
559 It should raise :exc:`URLError`, unless a truly exceptional thing happens (for
560 example, :exc:`MemoryError` should not be mapped to :exc:`URLError`).
561
562 This method will be called before any protocol-specific open method.
563
564
565.. method:: BaseHandler.protocol_open(req)
566 :noindex:
567
568 This method is *not* defined in :class:`BaseHandler`, but subclasses should
569 define it if they want to handle URLs with the given protocol.
570
571 This method, if defined, will be called by the parent :class:`OpenerDirector`.
572 Return values should be the same as for :meth:`default_open`.
573
574
575.. method:: BaseHandler.unknown_open(req)
576
577 This method is *not* defined in :class:`BaseHandler`, but subclasses should
578 define it if they want to catch all URLs with no specific registered handler to
579 open it.
580
581 This method, if implemented, will be called by the :attr:`parent`
582 :class:`OpenerDirector`. Return values should be the same as for
583 :meth:`default_open`.
584
585
586.. method:: BaseHandler.http_error_default(req, fp, code, msg, hdrs)
587
588 This method is *not* defined in :class:`BaseHandler`, but subclasses should
589 override it if they intend to provide a catch-all for otherwise unhandled HTTP
590 errors. It will be called automatically by the :class:`OpenerDirector` getting
591 the error, and should not normally be called in other circumstances.
592
593 *req* will be a :class:`Request` object, *fp* will be a file-like object with
594 the HTTP error body, *code* will be the three-digit code of the error, *msg*
595 will be the user-visible explanation of the code and *hdrs* will be a mapping
596 object with the headers of the error.
597
598 Return values and exceptions raised should be the same as those of
599 :func:`urlopen`.
600
601
602.. method:: BaseHandler.http_error_nnn(req, fp, code, msg, hdrs)
603
604 *nnn* should be a three-digit HTTP error code. This method is also not defined
605 in :class:`BaseHandler`, but will be called, if it exists, on an instance of a
606 subclass, when an HTTP error with code *nnn* occurs.
607
608 Subclasses should override this method to handle specific HTTP errors.
609
610 Arguments, return values and exceptions raised should be the same as for
611 :meth:`http_error_default`.
612
613
614.. method:: BaseHandler.protocol_request(req)
615 :noindex:
616
617 This method is *not* defined in :class:`BaseHandler`, but subclasses should
618 define it if they want to pre-process requests of the given protocol.
619
620 This method, if defined, will be called by the parent :class:`OpenerDirector`.
621 *req* will be a :class:`Request` object. The return value should be a
622 :class:`Request` object.
623
624
625.. method:: BaseHandler.protocol_response(req, response)
626 :noindex:
627
628 This method is *not* defined in :class:`BaseHandler`, but subclasses should
629 define it if they want to post-process responses of the given protocol.
630
631 This method, if defined, will be called by the parent :class:`OpenerDirector`.
632 *req* will be a :class:`Request` object. *response* will be an object
633 implementing the same interface as the return value of :func:`urlopen`. The
634 return value should implement the same interface as the return value of
635 :func:`urlopen`.
636
637
638.. _http-redirect-handler:
639
640HTTPRedirectHandler Objects
641---------------------------
642
643.. note::
644
645 Some HTTP redirections require action from this module's client code. If this
646 is the case, :exc:`HTTPError` is raised. See :rfc:`2616` for details of the
647 precise meanings of the various redirection codes.
648
649
Georg Brandl9617a592009-02-13 10:40:43 +0000650.. method:: HTTPRedirectHandler.redirect_request(req, fp, code, msg, hdrs, newurl)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000651
652 Return a :class:`Request` or ``None`` in response to a redirect. This is called
653 by the default implementations of the :meth:`http_error_30\*` methods when a
654 redirection is received from the server. If a redirection should take place,
655 return a new :class:`Request` to allow :meth:`http_error_30\*` to perform the
Georg Brandl9617a592009-02-13 10:40:43 +0000656 redirect to *newurl*. Otherwise, raise :exc:`HTTPError` if no other handler
657 should try to handle this URL, or return ``None`` if you can't but another
658 handler might.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000659
660 .. note::
661
662 The default implementation of this method does not strictly follow :rfc:`2616`,
663 which says that 301 and 302 responses to ``POST`` requests must not be
664 automatically redirected without confirmation by the user. In reality, browsers
665 do allow automatic redirection of these responses, changing the POST to a
666 ``GET``, and the default implementation reproduces this behavior.
667
668
669.. method:: HTTPRedirectHandler.http_error_301(req, fp, code, msg, hdrs)
670
Georg Brandl9617a592009-02-13 10:40:43 +0000671 Redirect to the ``Location:`` or ``URI:`` URL. This method is called by the
672 parent :class:`OpenerDirector` when getting an HTTP 'moved permanently' response.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000673
674
675.. method:: HTTPRedirectHandler.http_error_302(req, fp, code, msg, hdrs)
676
677 The same as :meth:`http_error_301`, but called for the 'found' response.
678
679
680.. method:: HTTPRedirectHandler.http_error_303(req, fp, code, msg, hdrs)
681
682 The same as :meth:`http_error_301`, but called for the 'see other' response.
683
684
685.. method:: HTTPRedirectHandler.http_error_307(req, fp, code, msg, hdrs)
686
687 The same as :meth:`http_error_301`, but called for the 'temporary redirect'
688 response.
689
690
691.. _http-cookie-processor:
692
693HTTPCookieProcessor Objects
694---------------------------
695
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000696:class:`HTTPCookieProcessor` instances have one attribute:
697
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000698.. attribute:: HTTPCookieProcessor.cookiejar
699
Georg Brandl24420152008-05-26 16:32:26 +0000700 The :class:`http.cookiejar.CookieJar` in which cookies are stored.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000701
702
703.. _proxy-handler:
704
705ProxyHandler Objects
706--------------------
707
708
709.. method:: ProxyHandler.protocol_open(request)
710 :noindex:
711
712 The :class:`ProxyHandler` will have a method :meth:`protocol_open` for every
713 *protocol* which has a proxy in the *proxies* dictionary given in the
714 constructor. The method will modify requests to go through the proxy, by
715 calling ``request.set_proxy()``, and call the next handler in the chain to
716 actually execute the protocol.
717
718
719.. _http-password-mgr:
720
721HTTPPasswordMgr Objects
722-----------------------
723
724These methods are available on :class:`HTTPPasswordMgr` and
725:class:`HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm` objects.
726
727
728.. method:: HTTPPasswordMgr.add_password(realm, uri, user, passwd)
729
730 *uri* can be either a single URI, or a sequence of URIs. *realm*, *user* and
731 *passwd* must be strings. This causes ``(user, passwd)`` to be used as
732 authentication tokens when authentication for *realm* and a super-URI of any of
733 the given URIs is given.
734
735
736.. method:: HTTPPasswordMgr.find_user_password(realm, authuri)
737
738 Get user/password for given realm and URI, if any. This method will return
739 ``(None, None)`` if there is no matching user/password.
740
741 For :class:`HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm` objects, the realm ``None`` will be
742 searched if the given *realm* has no matching user/password.
743
744
745.. _abstract-basic-auth-handler:
746
747AbstractBasicAuthHandler Objects
748--------------------------------
749
750
751.. method:: AbstractBasicAuthHandler.http_error_auth_reqed(authreq, host, req, headers)
752
753 Handle an authentication request by getting a user/password pair, and re-trying
754 the request. *authreq* should be the name of the header where the information
755 about the realm is included in the request, *host* specifies the URL and path to
756 authenticate for, *req* should be the (failed) :class:`Request` object, and
757 *headers* should be the error headers.
758
759 *host* is either an authority (e.g. ``"python.org"``) or a URL containing an
760 authority component (e.g. ``"http://python.org/"``). In either case, the
761 authority must not contain a userinfo component (so, ``"python.org"`` and
762 ``"python.org:80"`` are fine, ``"joe:password@python.org"`` is not).
763
764
765.. _http-basic-auth-handler:
766
767HTTPBasicAuthHandler Objects
768----------------------------
769
770
771.. method:: HTTPBasicAuthHandler.http_error_401(req, fp, code, msg, hdrs)
772
773 Retry the request with authentication information, if available.
774
775
776.. _proxy-basic-auth-handler:
777
778ProxyBasicAuthHandler Objects
779-----------------------------
780
781
782.. method:: ProxyBasicAuthHandler.http_error_407(req, fp, code, msg, hdrs)
783
784 Retry the request with authentication information, if available.
785
786
787.. _abstract-digest-auth-handler:
788
789AbstractDigestAuthHandler Objects
790---------------------------------
791
792
793.. method:: AbstractDigestAuthHandler.http_error_auth_reqed(authreq, host, req, headers)
794
795 *authreq* should be the name of the header where the information about the realm
796 is included in the request, *host* should be the host to authenticate to, *req*
797 should be the (failed) :class:`Request` object, and *headers* should be the
798 error headers.
799
800
801.. _http-digest-auth-handler:
802
803HTTPDigestAuthHandler Objects
804-----------------------------
805
806
807.. method:: HTTPDigestAuthHandler.http_error_401(req, fp, code, msg, hdrs)
808
809 Retry the request with authentication information, if available.
810
811
812.. _proxy-digest-auth-handler:
813
814ProxyDigestAuthHandler Objects
815------------------------------
816
817
818.. method:: ProxyDigestAuthHandler.http_error_407(req, fp, code, msg, hdrs)
819
820 Retry the request with authentication information, if available.
821
822
823.. _http-handler-objects:
824
825HTTPHandler Objects
826-------------------
827
828
829.. method:: HTTPHandler.http_open(req)
830
831 Send an HTTP request, which can be either GET or POST, depending on
832 ``req.has_data()``.
833
834
835.. _https-handler-objects:
836
837HTTPSHandler Objects
838--------------------
839
840
841.. method:: HTTPSHandler.https_open(req)
842
843 Send an HTTPS request, which can be either GET or POST, depending on
844 ``req.has_data()``.
845
846
847.. _file-handler-objects:
848
849FileHandler Objects
850-------------------
851
852
853.. method:: FileHandler.file_open(req)
854
855 Open the file locally, if there is no host name, or the host name is
Senthil Kumaran383c32d2010-10-14 11:57:35 +0000856 ``'localhost'``.
857
858 This method is applicable only for local hostnames. When a remote hostname
859 is given, an :exc:`URLError` is raised.
860
861.. versionchanged:: 3.2
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000862
863
864.. _ftp-handler-objects:
865
866FTPHandler Objects
867------------------
868
869
870.. method:: FTPHandler.ftp_open(req)
871
872 Open the FTP file indicated by *req*. The login is always done with empty
873 username and password.
874
875
876.. _cacheftp-handler-objects:
877
878CacheFTPHandler Objects
879-----------------------
880
881:class:`CacheFTPHandler` objects are :class:`FTPHandler` objects with the
882following additional methods:
883
884
885.. method:: CacheFTPHandler.setTimeout(t)
886
887 Set timeout of connections to *t* seconds.
888
889
890.. method:: CacheFTPHandler.setMaxConns(m)
891
892 Set maximum number of cached connections to *m*.
893
894
895.. _unknown-handler-objects:
896
897UnknownHandler Objects
898----------------------
899
900
901.. method:: UnknownHandler.unknown_open()
902
903 Raise a :exc:`URLError` exception.
904
905
906.. _http-error-processor-objects:
907
908HTTPErrorProcessor Objects
909--------------------------
910
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000911.. method:: HTTPErrorProcessor.unknown_open()
912
913 Process HTTP error responses.
914
915 For 200 error codes, the response object is returned immediately.
916
917 For non-200 error codes, this simply passes the job on to the
918 :meth:`protocol_error_code` handler methods, via :meth:`OpenerDirector.error`.
Georg Brandl0f7ede42008-06-23 11:23:31 +0000919 Eventually, :class:`HTTPDefaultErrorHandler` will raise an
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000920 :exc:`HTTPError` if no other handler handles the error.
921
Georg Brandl0f7ede42008-06-23 11:23:31 +0000922
923.. _urllib-request-examples:
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000924
925Examples
926--------
927
Senthil Kumaran0c2d8b82010-04-22 10:53:30 +0000928This example gets the python.org main page and displays the first 300 bytes of
Georg Brandlbdc55ab2010-04-20 18:15:54 +0000929it. ::
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000930
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +0000931 >>> import urllib.request
932 >>> f = urllib.request.urlopen('http://www.python.org/')
Senthil Kumaran0c2d8b82010-04-22 10:53:30 +0000933 >>> print(f.read(300))
934 b'<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
935 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">\n\n\n<html
936 xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">\n\n<head>\n
937 <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />\n
938 <title>Python Programming '
Senthil Kumaranb213ee32010-04-15 17:18:22 +0000939
Senthil Kumaran0c2d8b82010-04-22 10:53:30 +0000940Note that urlopen returns a bytes object. This is because there is no way
941for urlopen to automatically determine the encoding of the byte stream
942it receives from the http server. In general, a program will decode
943the returned bytes object to string once it determines or guesses
944the appropriate encoding.
Senthil Kumaranb213ee32010-04-15 17:18:22 +0000945
Senthil Kumaran0c2d8b82010-04-22 10:53:30 +0000946The following W3C document, http://www.w3.org/International/O-charset , lists
947the various ways in which a (X)HTML or a XML document could have specified its
948encoding information.
949
950As python.org website uses *utf-8* encoding as specified in it's meta tag, we
951will use same for decoding the bytes object. ::
Senthil Kumaranb213ee32010-04-15 17:18:22 +0000952
953 >>> import urllib.request
954 >>> f = urllib.request.urlopen('http://www.python.org/')
Georg Brandlfe4fd832010-05-21 21:01:32 +0000955 >>> print(f.read(100).decode('utf-8'))
Senthil Kumaran0c2d8b82010-04-22 10:53:30 +0000956 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
957 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtm
958
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000959
Senthil Kumaranb213ee32010-04-15 17:18:22 +0000960In the following example, we are sending a data-stream to the stdin of a CGI
961and reading the data it returns to us. Note that this example will only work
962when the Python installation supports SSL. ::
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000963
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +0000964 >>> import urllib.request
965 >>> req = urllib.request.Request(url='https://localhost/cgi-bin/test.cgi',
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000966 ... data='This data is passed to stdin of the CGI')
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +0000967 >>> f = urllib.request.urlopen(req)
Senthil Kumaranb213ee32010-04-15 17:18:22 +0000968 >>> print(f.read().decode('utf-8'))
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000969 Got Data: "This data is passed to stdin of the CGI"
970
971The code for the sample CGI used in the above example is::
972
973 #!/usr/bin/env python
974 import sys
975 data = sys.stdin.read()
Collin Winterc79461b2007-09-01 23:34:30 +0000976 print('Content-type: text-plain\n\nGot Data: "%s"' % data)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000977
978Use of Basic HTTP Authentication::
979
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +0000980 import urllib.request
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000981 # Create an OpenerDirector with support for Basic HTTP Authentication...
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +0000982 auth_handler = urllib.request.HTTPBasicAuthHandler()
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000983 auth_handler.add_password(realm='PDQ Application',
984 uri='https://mahler:8092/site-updates.py',
985 user='klem',
986 passwd='kadidd!ehopper')
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +0000987 opener = urllib.request.build_opener(auth_handler)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000988 # ...and install it globally so it can be used with urlopen.
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +0000989 urllib.request.install_opener(opener)
990 urllib.request.urlopen('http://www.example.com/login.html')
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000991
992:func:`build_opener` provides many handlers by default, including a
993:class:`ProxyHandler`. By default, :class:`ProxyHandler` uses the environment
994variables named ``<scheme>_proxy``, where ``<scheme>`` is the URL scheme
995involved. For example, the :envvar:`http_proxy` environment variable is read to
996obtain the HTTP proxy's URL.
997
998This example replaces the default :class:`ProxyHandler` with one that uses
Georg Brandl2ee470f2008-07-16 12:55:28 +0000999programmatically-supplied proxy URLs, and adds proxy authorization support with
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001000:class:`ProxyBasicAuthHandler`. ::
1001
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00001002 proxy_handler = urllib.request.ProxyHandler({'http': 'http://www.example.com:3128/'})
Senthil Kumaran037f8362009-12-24 02:24:37 +00001003 proxy_auth_handler = urllib.request.ProxyBasicAuthHandler()
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001004 proxy_auth_handler.add_password('realm', 'host', 'username', 'password')
1005
Senthil Kumaran037f8362009-12-24 02:24:37 +00001006 opener = urllib.request.build_opener(proxy_handler, proxy_auth_handler)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001007 # This time, rather than install the OpenerDirector, we use it directly:
1008 opener.open('http://www.example.com/login.html')
1009
1010Adding HTTP headers:
1011
1012Use the *headers* argument to the :class:`Request` constructor, or::
1013
Georg Brandl029986a2008-06-23 11:44:14 +00001014 import urllib.request
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00001015 req = urllib.request.Request('http://www.example.com/')
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001016 req.add_header('Referer', 'http://www.python.org/')
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00001017 r = urllib.request.urlopen(req)
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001018
1019:class:`OpenerDirector` automatically adds a :mailheader:`User-Agent` header to
1020every :class:`Request`. To change this::
1021
Georg Brandl029986a2008-06-23 11:44:14 +00001022 import urllib.request
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00001023 opener = urllib.request.build_opener()
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001024 opener.addheaders = [('User-agent', 'Mozilla/5.0')]
1025 opener.open('http://www.example.com/')
1026
1027Also, remember that a few standard headers (:mailheader:`Content-Length`,
1028:mailheader:`Content-Type` and :mailheader:`Host`) are added when the
1029:class:`Request` is passed to :func:`urlopen` (or :meth:`OpenerDirector.open`).
1030
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00001031.. _urllib-examples:
1032
1033Here is an example session that uses the ``GET`` method to retrieve a URL
1034containing parameters::
1035
1036 >>> import urllib.request
1037 >>> import urllib.parse
1038 >>> params = urllib.parse.urlencode({'spam': 1, 'eggs': 2, 'bacon': 0})
1039 >>> f = urllib.request.urlopen("http://www.musi-cal.com/cgi-bin/query?%s" % params)
Senthil Kumaranb213ee32010-04-15 17:18:22 +00001040 >>> print(f.read().decode('utf-8'))
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00001041
1042The following example uses the ``POST`` method instead::
1043
1044 >>> import urllib.request
1045 >>> import urllib.parse
1046 >>> params = urllib.parse.urlencode({'spam': 1, 'eggs': 2, 'bacon': 0})
1047 >>> f = urllib.request.urlopen("http://www.musi-cal.com/cgi-bin/query", params)
Senthil Kumaranb213ee32010-04-15 17:18:22 +00001048 >>> print(f.read().decode('utf-8'))
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00001049
1050The following example uses an explicitly specified HTTP proxy, overriding
1051environment settings::
1052
1053 >>> import urllib.request
1054 >>> proxies = {'http': 'http://proxy.example.com:8080/'}
1055 >>> opener = urllib.request.FancyURLopener(proxies)
1056 >>> f = opener.open("http://www.python.org")
Senthil Kumaranb213ee32010-04-15 17:18:22 +00001057 >>> f.read().decode('utf-8')
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00001058
1059The following example uses no proxies at all, overriding environment settings::
1060
1061 >>> import urllib.request
1062 >>> opener = urllib.request.FancyURLopener({})
1063 >>> f = opener.open("http://www.python.org/")
Senthil Kumaranb213ee32010-04-15 17:18:22 +00001064 >>> f.read().decode('utf-8')
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00001065
1066
Antoine Pitroub8eb9cb2010-12-15 19:07:26 +00001067Legacy interface
1068----------------
1069
1070The following functions and classes are ported from the Python 2 module
1071``urllib`` (as opposed to ``urllib2``). They might become deprecated at
1072some point in the future.
1073
1074
1075.. function:: urlretrieve(url, filename=None, reporthook=None, data=None)
1076
1077 Copy a network object denoted by a URL to a local file, if necessary. If the URL
1078 points to a local file, or a valid cached copy of the object exists, the object
1079 is not copied. Return a tuple ``(filename, headers)`` where *filename* is the
1080 local file name under which the object can be found, and *headers* is whatever
1081 the :meth:`info` method of the object returned by :func:`urlopen` returned (for
1082 a remote object, possibly cached). Exceptions are the same as for
1083 :func:`urlopen`.
1084
1085 The second argument, if present, specifies the file location to copy to (if
1086 absent, the location will be a tempfile with a generated name). The third
1087 argument, if present, is a hook function that will be called once on
1088 establishment of the network connection and once after each block read
1089 thereafter. The hook will be passed three arguments; a count of blocks
1090 transferred so far, a block size in bytes, and the total size of the file. The
1091 third argument may be ``-1`` on older FTP servers which do not return a file
1092 size in response to a retrieval request.
1093
1094 If the *url* uses the :file:`http:` scheme identifier, the optional *data*
1095 argument may be given to specify a ``POST`` request (normally the request type
1096 is ``GET``). The *data* argument must in standard
1097 :mimetype:`application/x-www-form-urlencoded` format; see the :func:`urlencode`
1098 function below.
1099
1100 :func:`urlretrieve` will raise :exc:`ContentTooShortError` when it detects that
1101 the amount of data available was less than the expected amount (which is the
1102 size reported by a *Content-Length* header). This can occur, for example, when
1103 the download is interrupted.
1104
1105 The *Content-Length* is treated as a lower bound: if there's more data to read,
1106 urlretrieve reads more data, but if less data is available, it raises the
1107 exception.
1108
1109 You can still retrieve the downloaded data in this case, it is stored in the
1110 :attr:`content` attribute of the exception instance.
1111
1112 If no *Content-Length* header was supplied, urlretrieve can not check the size
1113 of the data it has downloaded, and just returns it. In this case you just have
1114 to assume that the download was successful.
1115
1116.. function:: urlcleanup()
1117
1118 Clear the cache that may have been built up by previous calls to
1119 :func:`urlretrieve`.
1120
1121.. class:: URLopener(proxies=None, **x509)
1122
1123 Base class for opening and reading URLs. Unless you need to support opening
1124 objects using schemes other than :file:`http:`, :file:`ftp:`, or :file:`file:`,
1125 you probably want to use :class:`FancyURLopener`.
1126
1127 By default, the :class:`URLopener` class sends a :mailheader:`User-Agent` header
1128 of ``urllib/VVV``, where *VVV* is the :mod:`urllib` version number.
1129 Applications can define their own :mailheader:`User-Agent` header by subclassing
1130 :class:`URLopener` or :class:`FancyURLopener` and setting the class attribute
1131 :attr:`version` to an appropriate string value in the subclass definition.
1132
1133 The optional *proxies* parameter should be a dictionary mapping scheme names to
1134 proxy URLs, where an empty dictionary turns proxies off completely. Its default
1135 value is ``None``, in which case environmental proxy settings will be used if
1136 present, as discussed in the definition of :func:`urlopen`, above.
1137
1138 Additional keyword parameters, collected in *x509*, may be used for
1139 authentication of the client when using the :file:`https:` scheme. The keywords
1140 *key_file* and *cert_file* are supported to provide an SSL key and certificate;
1141 both are needed to support client authentication.
1142
1143 :class:`URLopener` objects will raise an :exc:`IOError` exception if the server
1144 returns an error code.
1145
1146 .. method:: open(fullurl, data=None)
1147
1148 Open *fullurl* using the appropriate protocol. This method sets up cache and
1149 proxy information, then calls the appropriate open method with its input
1150 arguments. If the scheme is not recognized, :meth:`open_unknown` is called.
1151 The *data* argument has the same meaning as the *data* argument of
1152 :func:`urlopen`.
1153
1154
1155 .. method:: open_unknown(fullurl, data=None)
1156
1157 Overridable interface to open unknown URL types.
1158
1159
1160 .. method:: retrieve(url, filename=None, reporthook=None, data=None)
1161
1162 Retrieves the contents of *url* and places it in *filename*. The return value
1163 is a tuple consisting of a local filename and either a
1164 :class:`email.message.Message` object containing the response headers (for remote
1165 URLs) or ``None`` (for local URLs). The caller must then open and read the
1166 contents of *filename*. If *filename* is not given and the URL refers to a
1167 local file, the input filename is returned. If the URL is non-local and
1168 *filename* is not given, the filename is the output of :func:`tempfile.mktemp`
1169 with a suffix that matches the suffix of the last path component of the input
1170 URL. If *reporthook* is given, it must be a function accepting three numeric
1171 parameters. It will be called after each chunk of data is read from the
1172 network. *reporthook* is ignored for local URLs.
1173
1174 If the *url* uses the :file:`http:` scheme identifier, the optional *data*
1175 argument may be given to specify a ``POST`` request (normally the request type
1176 is ``GET``). The *data* argument must in standard
1177 :mimetype:`application/x-www-form-urlencoded` format; see the :func:`urlencode`
1178 function below.
1179
1180
1181 .. attribute:: version
1182
1183 Variable that specifies the user agent of the opener object. To get
1184 :mod:`urllib` to tell servers that it is a particular user agent, set this in a
1185 subclass as a class variable or in the constructor before calling the base
1186 constructor.
1187
1188
1189.. class:: FancyURLopener(...)
1190
1191 :class:`FancyURLopener` subclasses :class:`URLopener` providing default handling
1192 for the following HTTP response codes: 301, 302, 303, 307 and 401. For the 30x
1193 response codes listed above, the :mailheader:`Location` header is used to fetch
1194 the actual URL. For 401 response codes (authentication required), basic HTTP
1195 authentication is performed. For the 30x response codes, recursion is bounded
1196 by the value of the *maxtries* attribute, which defaults to 10.
1197
1198 For all other response codes, the method :meth:`http_error_default` is called
1199 which you can override in subclasses to handle the error appropriately.
1200
1201 .. note::
1202
1203 According to the letter of :rfc:`2616`, 301 and 302 responses to POST requests
1204 must not be automatically redirected without confirmation by the user. In
1205 reality, browsers do allow automatic redirection of these responses, changing
1206 the POST to a GET, and :mod:`urllib` reproduces this behaviour.
1207
1208 The parameters to the constructor are the same as those for :class:`URLopener`.
1209
1210 .. note::
1211
1212 When performing basic authentication, a :class:`FancyURLopener` instance calls
1213 its :meth:`prompt_user_passwd` method. The default implementation asks the
1214 users for the required information on the controlling terminal. A subclass may
1215 override this method to support more appropriate behavior if needed.
1216
1217 The :class:`FancyURLopener` class offers one additional method that should be
1218 overloaded to provide the appropriate behavior:
1219
1220 .. method:: prompt_user_passwd(host, realm)
1221
1222 Return information needed to authenticate the user at the given host in the
1223 specified security realm. The return value should be a tuple, ``(user,
1224 password)``, which can be used for basic authentication.
1225
1226 The implementation prompts for this information on the terminal; an application
1227 should override this method to use an appropriate interaction model in the local
1228 environment.
1229
1230
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00001231:mod:`urllib.request` Restrictions
1232----------------------------------
1233
1234 .. index::
1235 pair: HTTP; protocol
1236 pair: FTP; protocol
1237
1238* Currently, only the following protocols are supported: HTTP, (versions 0.9 and
1239 1.0), FTP, and local files.
1240
1241* The caching feature of :func:`urlretrieve` has been disabled until I find the
1242 time to hack proper processing of Expiration time headers.
1243
1244* There should be a function to query whether a particular URL is in the cache.
1245
1246* For backward compatibility, if a URL appears to point to a local file but the
1247 file can't be opened, the URL is re-interpreted using the FTP protocol. This
1248 can sometimes cause confusing error messages.
1249
1250* The :func:`urlopen` and :func:`urlretrieve` functions can cause arbitrarily
1251 long delays while waiting for a network connection to be set up. This means
1252 that it is difficult to build an interactive Web client using these functions
1253 without using threads.
1254
1255 .. index::
1256 single: HTML
1257 pair: HTTP; protocol
1258
1259* The data returned by :func:`urlopen` or :func:`urlretrieve` is the raw data
1260 returned by the server. This may be binary data (such as an image), plain text
1261 or (for example) HTML. The HTTP protocol provides type information in the reply
1262 header, which can be inspected by looking at the :mailheader:`Content-Type`
1263 header. If the returned data is HTML, you can use the module
1264 :mod:`html.parser` to parse it.
1265
1266 .. index:: single: FTP
1267
1268* The code handling the FTP protocol cannot differentiate between a file and a
1269 directory. This can lead to unexpected behavior when attempting to read a URL
1270 that points to a file that is not accessible. If the URL ends in a ``/``, it is
1271 assumed to refer to a directory and will be handled accordingly. But if an
1272 attempt to read a file leads to a 550 error (meaning the URL cannot be found or
1273 is not accessible, often for permission reasons), then the path is treated as a
1274 directory in order to handle the case when a directory is specified by a URL but
1275 the trailing ``/`` has been left off. This can cause misleading results when
1276 you try to fetch a file whose read permissions make it inaccessible; the FTP
1277 code will try to read it, fail with a 550 error, and then perform a directory
1278 listing for the unreadable file. If fine-grained control is needed, consider
1279 using the :mod:`ftplib` module, subclassing :class:`FancyURLOpener`, or changing
1280 *_urlopener* to meet your needs.
1281
Georg Brandl0f7ede42008-06-23 11:23:31 +00001282
1283
Georg Brandl8175dae2010-11-29 14:53:15 +00001284:mod:`urllib.response` --- Response classes used by urllib
1285==========================================================
Georg Brandl0f7ede42008-06-23 11:23:31 +00001286
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00001287.. module:: urllib.response
1288 :synopsis: Response classes used by urllib.
1289
1290The :mod:`urllib.response` module defines functions and classes which define a
Georg Brandl0f7ede42008-06-23 11:23:31 +00001291minimal file like interface, including ``read()`` and ``readline()``. The
Ezio Melottib9701422010-11-18 19:48:27 +00001292typical response object is an addinfourl instance, which defines an ``info()``
Georg Brandl0f7ede42008-06-23 11:23:31 +00001293method and that returns headers and a ``geturl()`` method that returns the url.
Senthil Kumaranaca8fd72008-06-23 04:41:59 +00001294Functions defined by this module are used internally by the
1295:mod:`urllib.request` module.
1296