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curl works python requests does not

Narkw Brahma

Narkw Brahma

• 2 min read

Curl Works Python Requests Does Not

As a software developer, I have faced a lot of situations where I had to use different tools and libraries to get things done. One of the common problems that I have faced is the difference between curl and Python requests library. Both are used to make HTTP requests but there are some differences that make one better than the other in some situations.

What is Curl?

Curl is a command-line tool that can be used to transfer data from or to a server using various protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, etc. It is very powerful and versatile as it supports a lot of options and parameters that allow us to customize our requests.


$ curl https://www.example.com

This command sends an HTTP GET request to https://www.example.com and prints the response on the terminal.

What is Python Requests?

Python Requests library is a popular third-party library used for making HTTP requests in Python. It is a wrapper around the urllib3 library which provides a simple API for sending HTTP/1.1 requests.


import requests

response = requests.get('https://www.example.com')
print(response.text)

This code sends an HTTP GET request to https://www.example.com using Python Requests library and prints the response on the console.

Why Curl Works and Python Requests Does Not?

There could be several reasons why curl works but Python Requests does not:

  • SSL/TLS Certificate Issues: Curl is more forgiving when it comes to SSL/TLS certificate issues. It allows us to bypass certificate verification using the -k, --insecure option. Python Requests, on the other hand, is more strict and requires a valid certificate.
  • HTTP/1.0 Support: Curl supports HTTP/1.0 by default but Python Requests only supports HTTP/1.1. This can cause issues when dealing with legacy systems or servers that only support HTTP/1.0.
  • Redirects: Curl handles redirects more efficiently than Python Requests. It follows redirects by default but Python Requests requires us to explicitly enable it using the allow_redirects=True parameter.

However, Python Requests has some advantages over Curl:

  • Easy to Use: Python Requests has a simple and intuitive API that makes it easy to use for beginners.
  • Built-in Features: Python Requests comes with built-in support for cookies, authentication, and sessions which makes it easier to handle these common use cases.
  • Pythonic: Python Requests is more "Pythonic" in the sense that it follows the idioms and conventions of the Python language which makes it easier to read and understand.

So, whether to use Curl or Python Requests depends on the specific use case and requirements of the project.

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