python requests follow redirect

Python Requests Follow Redirect

If you are working with Python and want to make HTTP requests, you may use the popular library called "Requests". In some cases, when you make an HTTP request, you might get a "302 Redirect" response status code. This means that the server is redirecting you to a different URL. If you want to follow the redirect and get the content from the new URL, you can use the "allow_redirects" parameter in the "requests.get()" method.

Using Requests.get()

Here's an example of how you can use the "requests.get()" method with the "allow_redirects" parameter:


import requests

response = requests.get('https://example.com', allow_redirects=True)

print(response.content)

In the above example, we are making an HTTP GET request to 'https://example.com'. If this URL returns a 302 Redirect status code, the "allow_redirects=True" parameter will automatically follow the redirect and get the content from the new URL.

Disabling Redirects

If you don't want to follow redirects and just want to get the initial response, you can set the "allow_redirects" parameter to "False". Here's an example:


import requests

response = requests.get('https://example.com', allow_redirects=False)

print(response.content)

In the above example, we are making an HTTP GET request to 'https://example.com' and setting "allow_redirects=False". This means that if we get a 302 Redirect status code, we will not follow the redirect and just get the initial response.

Handling Redirect Loops

In some cases, you might encounter a redirect loop where the server keeps redirecting you to the same URL. This can cause your program to get stuck in an infinite loop. To handle redirect loops, you can set the "max_redirects" parameter to a number that limits the number of redirects that your program will follow. Here's an example:


import requests

response = requests.get('https://example.com', allow_redirects=True, max_redirects=3)

print(response.content)

In the above example, we are making an HTTP GET request to 'https://example.com' and setting "allow_redirects=True" and "max_redirects=3". This means that if we encounter a redirect loop where the server keeps redirecting us to the same URL, we will stop after following 3 redirects.

Conclusion

The "requests" library in Python makes it easy to make HTTP requests and follow redirects. By using the "allow_redirects" parameter, you can control whether or not to follow redirects and how many redirects to follow. This can be useful when working with APIs or web scraping.