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I have used curl to send POST requests with data from files.

I am trying to achieve the same using python requests module. Here is my python script

import requests
payload=open('data','rb').read()
r = requests.post('https://IP_ADDRESS/rest/rest/2', auth=('userid', 'password'), data=payload , verify=False)
print r.text

Data file looks like below

'ID' : 'ISM03'

But my script is not POSTing the data from file. Am I missing something here.

In Curl , I used to have a command like below

Curl --data @filename -ik -X POST 'https://IP_ADDRESS/rest/rest/2'
Martijn Pieters
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skanagasabap
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1 Answers1

50

You do not need to use .read() here, simply stream the object directly. You do need to set the Content-Type header explicitly; curl does this when using --data but requests doesn't:

with open('data','rb') as payload:
    headers = {'content-type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}
    r = requests.post('https://IP_ADDRESS/rest/rest/2', auth=('userid', 'password'),
                      data=payload, verify=False, headers=headers)

I've used the open file object as a context manager so that it is also auto-closed for you when the block exits (e.g. an exception occurs or requests.post() successfully returns).

Martijn Pieters
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    How is it, that you always seem to answer even the hardest python questions? – Games Brainiac Apr 22 '13 at 10:58
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    Don't believe everything I post.. There was an error in the first revision there. – Martijn Pieters Apr 22 '13 at 11:05
  • @MartijnPieters thanks for the reply.. I still couldn't POST the data from the file. If I use the values directly in the script it works. ex- payload={ 'ID' : 'ISM03' }. But when I have the contents in a file and use as you have mentioned, I couldn't update. Do I need to change the format in the input file ? – skanagasabap Apr 22 '13 at 11:24
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    `curl` expects the data file to be properly encoded *already*, and so does `requests`. I assumed you wanted it posted *as is*, just like `curl --data @filename` would do. – Martijn Pieters Apr 22 '13 at 11:28
  • When you use `payload = {'ID' : 'ISM03'}` you are creating a python dictionary instead, and that then is encoded in the right format (`ID=ISM03` in this specific case). If you put *that* into the data file it'll work in both curl and `requests`. – Martijn Pieters Apr 22 '13 at 11:29
  • @MartijnPieters Great piece of information... thanks . Able to achieve it now. – skanagasabap Apr 22 '13 at 12:11
  • does `requests` close the file for me after posting or should I close it myself? – wobmene Jun 16 '14 at 12:09
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    @khrf: It doesn't close it, no. Updated to use the file object as a context manager to ensure it is closed. – Martijn Pieters Jun 16 '14 at 12:13