python requests library body

Python Requests Library Body

Python Requests Library is a widely used third-party library used to make HTTP requests in Python. It is an elegant and simple HTTP library for Python, which allows us to send HTTP/1.1 requests extremely easily.

Understanding the Request Body

When we make an HTTP request, we might need to send additional data with the request. This data is called the Request Body. The request body can be in various formats such as JSON, XML, or plain text.

The Python Requests Library provides us with a feature to include a request body in our HTTP requests. In order to include a request body, we need to pass the data parameter as a dictionary in the request.

How to use Request Body in Python Requests Library

Here is how to use a request body in the Python Requests Library:


import requests

url = 'https://httpbin.org/post'
data = {'key1': 'value1', 'key2': 'value2'}
response = requests.post(url, data=data)
print(response.content)
  • url: This is the URL to which we want to send our HTTP request.
  • data: This is the data we want to include in our request body.
  • response: This is the response object returned by the server.

Using the above code, we can send a POST request to the specified URL with the request body data included. In this example, the data is passed as a dictionary to the data parameter of the post() method.

We can also send other data formats such as JSON or XML using the requests library. Here is how to send JSON data in the request body:


import requests
import json

url = 'https://httpbin.org/post'
data = {'key1': 'value1', 'key2': 'value2'}
json_data = json.dumps(data)
headers = {'Content-type': 'application/json'}
response = requests.post(url, data=json_data, headers=headers)
print(response.content)
  • json: We need to import the json module to convert our dictionary data to JSON format using the dumps() method.
  • headers: We also need to specify the headers to let the server know that we are sending JSON data in the request body.

Similarly, we can also send XML data using the requests library.

Conclusion

The Python Requests Library is a powerful library that allows us to make HTTP requests easily. Using the data parameter, we can send request bodies with our HTTP requests. We can send various data formats such as JSON or XML using the requests library.