Why use urllib3?

Feb 20, 2024 ยท 2 min read

Here is a 377 word article on "Why use urllib3?" with some tips, examples, and advice:

Making HTTP Requests in Python: An Introduction to urllib3

Python provides several modules for making HTTP requests to interact with web APIs and websites. One increasingly popular option is urllib3. Let's discuss why you may want to use urllib3 and how to get started.

Why urllib3?

The main advantage of urllib3 is that it's a full-featured HTTP client that just works out of the box. You don't need to configure much - just import urllib3 and start making requests.

Some key reasons to use urllib3:

  • Batteries included - Handles connection pooling, proxies, retries, timeouts, SSL/TLS verification, and more for you. Less boilerplate code for you to write.
  • Actively maintained - Has an active open source community with new releases and fixes. Recently integrated with Python's standard library.
  • High performance - Uses connection pooling and other optimizations to make requests very fast.
  • Making Requests with urllib3

    Let's walk through a quick example to see urllib3 in action:

    import urllib3
    
    http = urllib3.PoolManager()
    
    r = http.request('GET', 'http://example.com/')
    
    print(r.data)

    The PoolManager handles creating and reusing connections efficiently behind the scenes.

    We can also pass parameters in the URL query string:

    r = http.request('GET', 'http://example.com/search',
                     fields={'q': 'example query'})

    And easily POST JSON data:

    import json
    
    data = {'key1': 'value1', 'key2': 'value2'}
    r = http.request('POST', 'http://example.com/create',
                     body=json.dumps(data))

    Next Steps

    That covers some basics! Check out the full documentation to learn about timeouts, proxies, custom headers, response content handling, debugging tricks, and more.

    Let me know if you have any other questions!

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