Difference between urllib and urllib2

The urllib and urllib2 modules in Python provide developers with easy ways to make HTTP requests. Though they seem similar, there are some key differences that impact how you use them.

urllib: Basic HTTP Requests

The urllib module provides basic building blocks for making HTTP requests. With urllib, you can:

For example:

import urllib
response = urllib.urlopen('http://www.example.com/?page=1')
html = response.read()

However, urllib lacks some important features like HTTPS verification and error handling. It also handles HTTP responses differently than urllib2.

urllib2: More Robust HTTP

urllib2 builds on top of urllib and provides more robust HTTP capabilities:

Here's an example with urllib2:

import urllib2
request = urllib2.Request('https://www.example.com/')
response = urllib2.urlopen(request)
page = response.read()

As you can see, urllib2 allows HTTPS URLs and gives you more control over the request and error handling.

Key Takeaways

In summary, use urllib for simple HTTP requests and urllib2 when you need robust HTTPS, redirects, custom headers, or error handling. urllib2 builds on urllib so you'll have access to both regardless.