Python’s SimpleHTTPRequestHandler Class

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If you want to create a basic web server using Python, the SimpleHTTPRequestHandler is your go-to guy. This class allows us to handle HTTP requests with ease, without having to worry about all that ***** low-level stuff like sockets and protocols.

Here’s how it works: first, we import the necessary modules (including our trusty friend `SimpleHTTPRequestHandler`) and create a new instance of the class. Then, we define some custom methods for handling specific requests (like GET or POST), and finally, we start up the server using the built-in HTTP library.

Here’s an example:

# Import necessary modules
from http.server import SimpleHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
import os

# Create a new instance of the SimpleHTTPRequestHandler class
class MyHandler(SimpleHTTPRequestHandler):
    
    # Define method for handling GET requests
    def do_GET(self):
        # Send a 200 response code
        self.send_response(200)
        # Set the content type to HTML
        self.send_header('Content-type', 'text/html')
        # End the headers
        self.end_headers()
        # Write a simple HTML message to the client
        self.wfile.write(b'<h1>Hello, world!</h1>')
        
    # Define method for handling POST requests
    def do_POST(self):
        # Currently not handling POST requests, so pass
        pass
    
    # Define method for handling PUT requests
    def do_PUT(self):
        # Currently not handling PUT requests, so pass
        pass
    
    # Define method for handling DELETE requests
    def do_DELETE(self):
        # Currently not handling DELETE requests, so pass
        pass
    
# Check if the script is being run directly
if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Create an instance of the HTTPServer class, passing in the host and port
    server = HTTPServer(('localhost', 80), MyHandler)
    # Print a message to indicate the server is starting
    print("Starting web server...")
    try:
        # Start the server and keep it running until a keyboard interrupt occurs
        server.serve_forever()
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        # If a keyboard interrupt occurs, close the server and print a message
        server.server_close()
        print("Stopping web server...")

In this example, we’ve created a custom handler class called `MyHandler`, which inherits from the SimpleHTTPRequestHandler class. We then define some custom methods for handling specific requests (like GET or POST), and finally, start up the server using the built-in HTTP library.

And that’s it! With just a few lines of code, you can create a basic web server in Python that handles common HTTP requests like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE. Pretty cool, huh?

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