BaseHTTPServer

You can use this to make a simple HTTP web server.

Official Documentation

Example Code

Responding with an HTML Page

   1 import time
   2 import BaseHTTPServer
   3 
   4 
   5 HOST_NAME = 'example.net' # !!!REMEMBER TO CHANGE THIS!!!
   6 PORT_NUMBER = 80 # Maybe set this to 9000.
   7 
   8 
   9 class MyHandler(BaseHTTPServer.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
  10     def do_HEAD(s):
  11         s.send_response(200)
  12         s.send_header("Content-type", "text/html")
  13         s.end_headers()
  14     def do_GET(s):
  15         """Respond to a GET request."""
  16         s.send_response(200)
  17         s.send_header("Content-type", "text/html")
  18         s.end_headers()
  19         s.wfile.write("<html><head><title>Title goes here.</title></head>")
  20         s.wfile.write("<body><p>This is a test.</p>")
  21         # If someone went to "http://something.somewhere.net/foo/bar/",
  22         # then s.path equals "/foo/bar/".
  23         s.wfile.write("<p>You accessed path: %s</p>" % s.path)
  24         s.wfile.write("</body></html>")
  25 
  26 if __name__ == '__main__':
  27     server_class = BaseHTTPServer.HTTPServer
  28     httpd = server_class((HOST_NAME, PORT_NUMBER), MyHandler)
  29     print time.asctime(), "Server Starts - %s:%s" % (HOST_NAME, PORT_NUMBER)
  30     try:
  31         httpd.serve_forever()
  32     except KeyboardInterrupt:
  33         pass
  34     httpd.server_close()
  35     print time.asctime(), "Server Stops - %s:%s" % (HOST_NAME, PORT_NUMBER)

Responding with URL Redirection

This code demonstrates simple URL redirection:

   1 """
   2 URL redirection example.
   3 """
   4 
   5 import BaseHTTPServer
   6 import time
   7 import sys
   8 
   9 
  10 HOST_NAME = 'example.net' # !!!REMEMBER TO CHANGE THIS!!!
  11 PORT_NUMBER = 80 # Maybe set this to 9000.
  12 REDIRECTIONS = {"/slashdot/": "http://slashdot.org/",
  13                 "/freshmeat/": "http://freshmeat.net/"}
  14 LAST_RESORT = "http://google.com/"
  15 
  16 class RedirectHandler(BaseHTTPServer.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
  17     def do_HEAD(s):
  18         s.send_response(301)
  19         s.send_header("Location", REDIRECTIONS.get(s.path, LAST_RESORT))
  20         s.end_headers()
  21     def do_GET(s):
  22         s.do_HEAD()
  23 
  24 if __name__ == '__main__':
  25     server_class = BaseHTTPServer.HTTPServer
  26     httpd = server_class((HOST_NAME, PORT_NUMBER), RedirectHandler)
  27     print time.asctime(), "Server Starts - %s:%s" % (HOST_NAME, PORT_NUMBER)
  28     try:
  29         httpd.serve_forever()
  30     except KeyboardInterrupt:
  31         pass
  32     httpd.server_close()
  33     print time.asctime(), "Server Stops - %s:%s" % (HOST_NAME, PORT_NUMBER)

Parameterizing

When you want to make your server respect some parameters, it's easiest to do so via the server, rather than the handler.

That is, make a subclass of the server, that accepts some additional parameters. Have the server record those parameters.

Then, in the handler, use s.server to get to the server, and access the parameters through it.

See Also

Discussion

I'd ultimately like to see a BaseHttpServer here that can both handle XML-RPC requests (with that request handler,) and normal web requests (with a custom handler.)

Yes- I know and love TwistedPython. But I want to make something that works in a single install. -- LionKimbro 2004-05-31 01:13:16

I'd also like to add code here showing how to service a POST request.

-- LionKimbro 2004-07-03 23:07:53

There exist tools like CherryPy which will create a single-file Python HTTP server (based on BaseHTTPServer). This is a fair amount easier to work with than the raw BaseHTTPServer. For most cases, using a more complete framework will be preferable (see WebProgramming). -- IanBicking

I like the BaseHttpServer because it is in the default Python distributions. I encourage all work towards putting a standard web framework into the default Python distribution. I'm not picky, just as long as something is chosen. -- LionKimbro 2005-01-25 04:53:53

What's the matter with server_close()? I can call the method, but it is undocumented (see http://docs.python.org/lib/node634.html). Could someone knowledgable either remove the calls, or add a comment why they're necessary? Thanks. -- Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2007

BaseHttpServer (last edited 2012-04-15 19:54:19 by PaulBoddie)

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