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python requests post error handling

Narkw Brahma

Narkw Brahma

• 2 min read

Python Requests Post Error Handling

As someone who has worked with Python Requests library for a while, I have come across various errors that one might encounter while making a POST request. In this blog post, I will share some tips on how to handle these errors effectively.

1. Check Status Code

One of the most common errors that occur while making a POST request is a bad response from the server. The server might return a status code that indicates an error has occurred. In such cases, it is important to check the status code and handle the error accordingly:


import requests

response = requests.post('https://example.com', data={'key': 'value'})
if response.status_code == 200:
    # Success
else:
    # Handle Error

In the code above, we check if the status code is 200, which indicates a successful response. If it is not, we can handle the error as appropriate.

2. Handle Connection Errors

Another common error that can occur while making a POST request is a connection error. This can happen due to network issues or server downtime. To handle such errors, we can use the try-except block as shown below:


import requests

try:
    response = requests.post('https://example.com', data={'key': 'value'})
    response.raise_for_status()
except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as errh:
    # HTTP Error
except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError as errc:
    # Connection Error
except requests.exceptions.Timeout as errt:
    # Timeout Error
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as err:
    # Other Errors

In the code above, we use the raise_for_status() method to raise an HTTPError if the status code is not successful. We also catch other exceptions like ConnectionError and TimeoutError and handle them accordingly.

3. Use Retry Mechanism

To handle intermittent errors caused by network issues or server downtime, we can use a retry mechanism. The requests library provides a built-in retry mechanism that we can use as shown below:


import requests
from requests.adapters import HTTPAdapter
from requests.packages.urllib3.util.retry import Retry

retry_strategy = Retry(
    total=3,
    status_forcelist=[408, 429, 500, 502, 503, 504],
    method_whitelist=["POST"],
    backoff_factor=1,
)

adapter = HTTPAdapter(max_retries=retry_strategy)
http = requests.Session()
http.mount("https://", adapter)
http.mount("http://", adapter)

response = http.post('https://example.com', data={'key': 'value'})
if response.status_code == 200:
    # Success
else:
    # Handle Error

In the code above, we define a retry strategy that retries the request a maximum of three times in case of certain status codes like 408, 429, 500, 502, 503, and 504. We then mount the retry strategy to the requests session and make the POST request.

In conclusion, handling errors while making a POST request is an essential skill for any Python developer. By checking the status code, handling connection errors, and using a retry mechanism, we can effectively handle errors and ensure our requests are successful.

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