Using a Variable in REQUESTS in Python

Question

I've got an API request to make that involves passing some variables from user input and a config file to a filter expression contained in a dictionary.

The API uses hashes in its structure to wrap stings by default, although I can specify another string wrapping indicator if need be via a separate request. As is, what I need to do is below, basically.

I can't figure out the syntax to get those strings to populate the values between the wrapper # signs. Lots of questions about this, but none addressing the basic syntax without additional functionality, as far as I can tell.

import config
import requests

var1 = **the result of user input, a string**
var2 = **a value from a config file, also a string**

url = (config.api_url)
payload = {
'key':config.api_key,
'Operation':'GetEntities',
'Entity':'my_entity',
'Attributes':'my_attribute1,my_attribute2',
'Filter':'api_var1<eq>#var1# AND api_var2<eq>#var2#'}

response = requests.post(url,payload)

They key point is here:

'Filter':'api_var1<eq>#var1# AND api_var2<eq>#var2#'

So if var1 = '1234' and var2 = '4321' I need it to be the equivalent of:

'Filter':'api_var1<eq>#1234# AND api_var2<eq>#4321#'

'api_var1<eq>{} AND api_var2<eq>{}'.format(var1, var2)? Or even f'api_var1<eq>{var1} AND api_var2<eq>{var2}' with python 3.6. — hoefling
– hoefling, Commented Feb 13, 2018 at 19:23
Is that format documented by the API provider? Is there an escape sequence? Is there a provision to avoid malicious data injection? (Consider what happens if var1 contains a hash character.) — Robᵩ
– Robᵩ, Commented Feb 13, 2018 at 19:23
I'll pass that along to the developer, but yeah, that's the structure they dictate for filters, etc - they are probably expecting hardcoded values here, I wouldn't really know — km457
– km457, Commented Feb 13, 2018 at 19:36

Andersson · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-13 19:29:11Z

3

As far as I understand you want something like

'Filter':'api_var1<eq>#{0}# AND api_var2<eq>#{1}#'.format(var1, var2)}

or

'Filter':'api_var1<eq>#%s# AND api_var2<eq>#%s#' % (var1, var2)}

edited Feb 13, 2018 at 19:29

answered Feb 13, 2018 at 19:23

Andersson

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1 Comment

km457 Over a year ago

perfect, the first option works, thanks! I'd tried that already but was using '{0}' (with the single quotes) and was getting a syntax error.

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