🐍 Python Tutorial: Working with APIs
APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) allow Python programs to interact with web services. Common use cases include retrieving weather data, stock prices, or sending data to cloud services. This tutorial covers how to consume APIs using the requests library.
1. Getting Started with requests
The requests library makes HTTP requests easy. You can send GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, and other types of requests to interact with APIs.
import requests
response = requests.get("https://api.github.com")
print(response.status_code)
print(response.json())2. Passing Parameters
APIs often require query parameters. These can be passed using the params argument:
params = {'q': 'python', 'sort': 'stars'}
url = "https://api.github.com/search/repositories"
response = requests.get(url, params=params)
print(response.json())3. Sending Data with POST
When sending data to an API (e.g., submitting a form), use the POST method and pass data using the json or data keyword.
url = "https://httpbin.org/post"
data = {"name": "Alice", "email": "alice@example.com"}
response = requests.post(url, json=data)
print(response.json())4. Headers and Authentication
Some APIs require authentication via API keys or tokens. These are usually passed in the headers:
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"}
url = "https://api.example.com/data"
response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
print(response.status_code)