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python requests get timeout

Narkw Brahma

Narkw Brahma

• 1 min read

Dealing with Python Requests Timeout Error

If you are working with Python Requests, you may face a common issue of timeout error while sending a request to a server. This error occurs when the server takes too long to respond to your request.

What causes timeout error?

The timeout error can occur due to several reasons, such as:

  • Slow internet connection
  • Server is overloaded and takes too long to respond
  • The server may be down
  • The server may block the IP address of your device

How to handle timeout error?

To handle the timeout error, you can use the timeout parameter of the requests.get() method. This parameter sets the maximum time (in seconds) that the request should wait for a response from the server.


import requests

# Set the timeout parameter to 5 seconds
response = requests.get("https://www.example.com", timeout=5)

# Check if the response was successful
if response.status_code == 200:
    print("Request successful")
else:
    print("Request failed")

In the above example, we have set the timeout parameter to 5 seconds. If the server does not respond within this time, the request will be aborted and a Timeout exception will be raised.

You can also set a global timeout for all requests by specifying the timeout parameter in the session object:


import requests

# Create a session object
session = requests.Session()

# Set a global timeout of 5 seconds
session.request(timeout=5)

# Send a request using the session object
response = session.get("https://www.example.com")

# Check if the response was successful
if response.status_code == 200:
    print("Request successful")
else:
    print("Request failed")

Another way to handle the timeout error is to catch the Timeout exception and handle it appropriately:


import requests
from requests.exceptions import Timeout

try:
    response = requests.get("https://www.example.com", timeout=5)
except Timeout:
    print("Request timed out")
else:
    # Check if the response was successful
    if response.status_code == 200:
        print("Request successful")
    else:
        print("Request failed")

In the above example, we have caught the Timeout exception and printed a message when it occurs. If the request is successful, we print a success message; otherwise, we print a failure message.

Conclusion

The timeout error is a common issue that you may face while working with Python Requests. By setting the timeout parameter, you can handle this error and ensure that your application can handle slow or unresponsive servers.

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