What is the Python Requests Library and How to Use It?

The Requests library in Python is a popular HTTP library that allows you to send HTTP/1.1 requests easily. It’s designed to be easy to use and handle HTTP requests without the need for manual labor.

Installing the Requests Library

To install the Requests library, use pip:

pip install requests

Making a GET Request

Here’s how to make a basic GET request:

import requests
response = requests.get('https://api.github.com')
print(response.status_code)
print(response.headers['content-type'])
print(response.text)

Handling Response Content

You can access different types of response content:

# JSON content
data = response.json()

# Binary content
content = response.content

Making a POST Request

To send data via POST:

payload = {'key1': 'value1', 'key2': 'value2'}
response = requests.post('https://httpbin.org/post', data=payload)
print(response.text)

Setting Headers

You can customize headers in your request:

headers = {'User-Agent': 'my-app/0.0.1'}
response = requests.get('https://api.github.com', headers=headers)

Error Handling

Check for HTTP errors:

try:
    response = requests.get('https://api.github.com/invalid')
    response.raise_for_status()
except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as err:
    print(f'HTTP error occurred: {err}')

Conclusion

The Requests library simplifies HTTP requests in Python, making it straightforward to interact with web services and APIs.