Request - Making API calls

Python - A Quick Start for existing Programers

1 min read

Published Sep 16 2025, updated Sep 30 2025

Python

The requests module is the most popular library for making HTTP requests in Python. It simplifies interacting with web APIs, downloading web content, sending data, etc.

To install:

pip install requests

To include the module:

import requests

Key features:

Send HTTP/HTTPS requests: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.
Handle query parameters, headers, cookies.
Automatic JSON decoding.
Handle timeouts, redirects, and sessions.
Supports file uploads.

Main functions

requests.get(url) : Simple GET request.
requests.post(url) : POST request.
params= : Dictionary of URL query parameters.
data= : Dictionary of form data (POST).
json= : Dictionary to send as JSON payload.
headers= : Custom headers.
cookies= : Send cookies.
timeout= : Timeout in seconds.
response.status_code : HTTP response code.
response.text : Response content as string.
response.json() : Parse JSON response.
requests.Session() : Maintain cookies and headers across requests.

Examples

import requests

# Simple GET request

response = requests.get("https://api.github.com")

print(response.status_code)

# HTTP status code

print(response.headers["Content-Type"])

print(response.text[:100])

# first 100 chars of response body

# GET with query parameters

params = {"q": "python requests", "page": 1}

response = requests.get("https://www.example.com/search", params=params)

print(response.url)

# URL with encoded query string

print(response.json())

# if the response is JSON

# POST request with data

data = {"username": "alice", "password": "1234"}

response = requests.post("https://httpbin.org/post", data=data)

print(response.json())

# Sending JSON

json_data = {"title": "Hello", "body": "This is a post"}

response = requests.post("https://httpbin.org/post", json=json_data)

print(response.json())

# Custom headers

headers = {"User-Agent": "MyApp/1.0"}

response = requests.get("https://httpbin.org/headers", headers=headers)

print(response.json())

# Handling timeouts

try:

response = requests.get("https://httpbin.org/delay/5", timeout=2)

except requests.Timeout:

print("Request timed out!")

# Sessions (persistent cookies, headers)

session = requests.Session()

session.headers.update({"Authorization": "Bearer TOKEN"})

response = session.get("https://httpbin.org/headers")

print(response.json())

url = "https://httpbin.org"

# PUT request (replace/update resource)

put_data = {"name": "Alice", "role": "admin"}

response = requests.put(f"{url}/put", json=put_data)

print("PUT status:", response.status_code)

print("PUT response:", response.json())

# PATCH request (partial update)

patch_data = {"role": "moderator"}

response = requests.patch(f"{url}/patch", json=patch_data)

print("PATCH status:", response.status_code)

print("PATCH response:", response.json())

# DELETE request

response = requests.delete(f"{url}/delete")

print("DELETE status:", response.status_code)

print("DELETE response:", response.json())

# Post file data

# Open the file in binary mode

with open("example.txt", "rb") as f:

files = {"file": f} # 'file' is the form field name

response = requests.post(f"{url}/post", files=files)

# Check the response

print("Status code:", response.status_code)

print("Response JSON:", response.json())

# Multiple files

with open("example1.txt", "rb") as f1, open("example2.txt", "rb") as f2:

files = {

"file1": f1,

"file2": f2

}

data = {"user": "alice", "role": "admin"}

# extra form fields

response = requests.post(f"{url}/post", files=files, data=data)

print(response.json())

Request - Making API calls

Python - A Quick Start for existing Programers

1 min read

Published Sep 16 2025, updated Sep 30 2025

Guide Sections

Guide Comments

Key features:

Main functions

Examples

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