11.6 httplib -- HTTP protocol client

Python PEP

11.6 httplib -- HTTP protocol client

This module defines classes which implement the client side of the HTTP and HTTPS protocols. It is normally not used directly -- the module urllib uses it to handle URLs that use HTTP and HTTPS.

Note: HTTPS support is only available if the socket module was compiled with SSL support.

Note: The public interface for this module changed substantially in Python 2.0. The HTTP class is retained only for backward compatibility with 1.5.2. It should not be used in new code. Refer to the online docstrings for usage.

The module provides the following classes:

An HTTPConnection instance represents one transaction with an HTTP server. It should be instantiated passing it a host and optional port number. If no port number is passed, the port is extracted from the host string if it has the form host:port, else the default HTTP port (80) is used. For example, the following calls all create instances that connect to the server at the same host and port:

>>> h1 = httplib.HTTPConnection('www.cwi.nl')
>>> h2 = httplib.HTTPConnection('www.cwi.nl:80')
>>> h3 = httplib.HTTPConnection('www.cwi.nl', 80)
New in version 2.0.

A subclass of HTTPConnection that uses SSL for communication with secure servers. Default port is 443. key_file is the name of a PEM formatted file that contains your private key. cert_file is a PEM formatted certificate chain file.

Warning: This does not do any certificate verification!

New in version 2.0.

Class whose instances are returned upon successful connection. Not instantiated directly by user. New in version 2.0.

The following exceptions are raised as appropriate:

The base class of the other exceptions in this module. It is a subclass of Exception. New in version 2.0.

A subclass of HTTPException. New in version 2.0.

A subclass of HTTPException, raised if a port is given and is either non-numeric or empty. New in version 2.3.

A subclass of HTTPException. New in version 2.0.

A subclass of HTTPException. New in version 2.0.

A subclass of HTTPException. New in version 2.0.

A subclass of HTTPException. New in version 2.0.

A subclass of HTTPException. New in version 2.0.

A subclass of ImproperConnectionState. New in version 2.0.

A subclass of ImproperConnectionState. New in version 2.0.

A subclass of ImproperConnectionState. New in version 2.0.

A subclass of HTTPException. Raised if a server responds with a HTTP status code that we don't understand. New in version 2.0.

The constants defined in this module are:

The default port for the HTTP protocol (always 80).

The default port for the HTTPS protocol (always 443).

and also the following constants for integer status codes:

Constant Value Definition
CONTINUE 100 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.1.1
SWITCHING_PROTOCOLS 101 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.1.2
PROCESSING 102 WEBDAV, RFC 2518, Section 10.1
OK 200 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.2.1
CREATED 201 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.2.2
ACCEPTED 202 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.2.3
NON_AUTHORITATIVE_INFORMATION 203 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.2.4
NO_CONTENT 204 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.2.5
RESET_CONTENT 205 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.2.6
PARTIAL_CONTENT 206 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.2.7
MULTI_STATUS 207 WEBDAV RFC 2518, Section 10.2
IM_USED 226 Delta encoding in HTTP, RFC 3229, Section 10.4.1
MULTIPLE_CHOICES 300 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.3.1
MOVED_PERMANENTLY 301 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.3.2
FOUND 302 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.3.3
SEE_OTHER 303 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.3.4
NOT_MODIFIED 304 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.3.5
USE_PROXY 305 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.3.6
TEMPORARY_REDIRECT 307 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.3.8
BAD_REQUEST 400 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.1
UNAUTHORIZED 401 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.2
PAYMENT_REQUIRED 402 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.3
FORBIDDEN 403 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.4
NOT_FOUND 404 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.5
METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED 405 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.6
NOT_ACCEPTABLE 406 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.7
PROXY_AUTHENTICATION_REQUIRED 407 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.8
REQUEST_TIMEOUT 408 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.9
CONFLICT 409 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.10
GONE 410 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.11
LENGTH_REQUIRED 411 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.12
PRECONDITION_FAILED 412 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.13
REQUEST_ENTITY_TOO_LARGE 413 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.14
REQUEST_URI_TOO_LONG 414 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.15
UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE 415 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.16
REQUESTED_RANGE_NOT_SATISFIABLE 416 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.17
EXPECTATION_FAILED 417 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.4.18
UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY 422 WEBDAV, RFC 2518, Section 10.3
LOCKED 423 WEBDAV RFC 2518, Section 10.4
FAILED_DEPENDENCY 424 WEBDAV, RFC 2518, Section 10.5
UPGRADE_REQUIRED 426 HTTP Upgrade to TLS, RFC 2817, Section 6
INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR 500 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.5.1
NOT_IMPLEMENTED 501 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.5.2
BAD_GATEWAY 502 HTTP/1.1 RFC 2616, Section 10.5.3
SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE 503 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.5.4
GATEWAY_TIMEOUT 504 HTTP/1.1 RFC 2616, Section 10.5.5
HTTP_VERSION_NOT_SUPPORTED 505 HTTP/1.1, RFC 2616, Section 10.5.6
INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE 507 WEBDAV, RFC 2518, Section 10.6
NOT_EXTENDED 510 An HTTP Extension Framework, RFC 2774, Section 7


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