Requests Library Deep Dive - 1

Continuing my exploration of the requests library, I thought it would be helpful to first review some of its most commonly used APIs before diving into the source code. Here’s a quick overview:

Core Methods

The library provides 7 main methods, all of which return an instance of the Response object:

  1. requests.request(method, url, **kwargs)
    The most flexible method, allowing you to specify the HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.) and additional parameters.

  2. requests.get(url, params=None, **kwargs)
    Sends a GET request to the specified URL. Query parameters can be passed as a dictionary to the params argument.

  3. requests.post(url, data=None, json=None, **kwargs)
    Sends a POST request. You can include form data or JSON in the request body.

  4. requests.put(url, data=None, **kwargs)
    Sends a PUT request, typically used for updating resources.

  5. requests.patch(url, data=None, **kwargs)
    Sends a PATCH request for partial updates to a resource.

  6. requests.delete(url, **kwargs)
    Sends a DELETE request to remove a resource.

  7. requests.head(url, **kwargs)
    Sends a HEAD request, retrieving only headers without the response body.

Common Parameters

Across these methods, several parameters are frequently used:

  • url: The target URL for the request.
  • params: Query parameters, passed as a dictionary (commonly used with GET requests).
  • data: The body of the request, typically used with POST or PUT.
  • json: A JSON-serializable object to include in the request body.
  • headers: Custom HTTP headers to send with the request.
  • cookies: Cookies to include with the request.
  • files: Files for multipart file uploads.
  • auth: Authentication credentials.
  • timeout: Specifies the maximum time to wait for a response before raising a timeout exception.
  • allow_redirects: Whether to follow HTTP redirects (defaults to True).

This overview serves as a foundation for understanding the requests library before delving into its implementation details.

References: https://requests.readthedocs.io/en/latest/api/#main-interface

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