HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is a protocol that allows data communication on the web. It uses various methods to transfer data between the client and the server. Two of the most commonly used methods are GET and POST. These methods are used to send and receive data from the server.
In this article, we’ll discuss GET and POST requests in Python and their differences.
GET Requests
GET is a method used to request data from a specified resource. This method is used when we want to retrieve data from the server. When we send a GET request, the data is sent in the URL’s query string. This makes GET requests visible in the browser’s address bar. GET requests are generally used for retrieving data that doesn’t require any sensitive information.
Let’s see how to make a GET request using Python:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | import requests url = "https://api.github.com" response = requests.get(url) print(response.text) |
In the above code, we imported the requests module, which is used for making HTTP requests. Then we defined the URL we want to request data from. We then used the get() method of the requests module to send a GET request to the URL. Finally, we printed the response data using the text attribute of the response object.
POST Requests
POST is a method used to submit data to be processed to a specified resource. This method is used when we want to send data to the server, which may contain sensitive information like usernames, passwords, etc. POST requests are not visible in the browser’s address bar.
Let’s see how to make a POST request using Python:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | import requests url = "https://httpbin.org/post" payload = {"name": "John", "email": "john@example.com"} response = requests.post(url, data=payload) print(response.text) |
In the above code, we defined the URL we want to submit data to. We also defined the data we want to send in the payload variable. We then used the post() method of the requests module to send a POST request to the URL with the data in the payload variable. Finally, we printed the response data using the text attribute of the response object.
Difference between GET and POST Requests
The main difference between GET and POST requests is the way data is sent to the server. GET requests send data in the URL’s query string, while POST requests send data in the request body. GET requests are used for retrieving data, while POST requests are used for submitting data.
Another difference is that GET requests are cached by the browser, while POST requests are not. This means that GET requests are faster than POST requests when requesting data that doesn’t change frequently. However, POST requests are necessary for sending sensitive data that should not be cached.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed the difference between GET and POST requests in Python. We saw how to make GET and POST requests using the requests module. We also discussed the differences between GET and POST requests and their use cases. It’s important to understand the differences between these two methods and use them accordingly based on the requirements of our application.