I am trying to convert a Python dictionary to a string for use as URL parameters. I am sure that there is a better, more Pythonic way of doing this. What is it?
x = ""
for key, val in {'a':'A', 'b':'B'}.items():
x += "%s=%s&" %(key,val)
x = x[:-1]
Use urllib.parse.urlencode(). It takes a dictionary of key-value pairs, and converts it into a form suitable for a URL (e.g., key1=val1&key2=val2).
For your example:
>>> import urllib.parse
>>> params = {'a':'A', 'b':'B'}
>>> urllib.parse.urlencode(params)
'a=A&b=B'
If you want to make a URL with repetitive params such as: p=1&p=2&p=3 you have two options:
>>> a = (('p',1),('p',2), ('p', 3))
>>> urllib.parse.urlencode(a)
'p=1&p=2&p=3'
or:
>>> urllib.parse.urlencode({'p': [1, 2, 3]}, doseq=True)
'p=1&p=2&p=3'
If you are still using Python 2, use urllib.urlencode().
doeseq is about: "If any values in the query arg are sequences and doseq is true, each sequence element is converted to a separate parameter."
urllib.parse.urlencode()For python 3, the urllib library has changed a bit, now you have to do:
from urllib.parse import urlencode
params = {'a':'A', 'b':'B'}
urlencode(params)
import urllib and then urllib.parse. It must be done as import urllib.parse.Here is the correct way of using it in Python 3.
from urllib.parse import urlencode
params = {'a':'A', 'b':'B'}
print(urlencode(params))
Use the 3rd party Python url manipulation library furl:
f = furl.furl('')
f.args = {'a':'A', 'b':'B'}
print(f.url) # prints ... '?a=A&b=B'
If you want repetitive parameters, you can do the following:
f = furl.furl('')
f.args = [('a', 'A'), ('b', 'B'),('b', 'B2')]
print(f.url) # prints ... '?a=A&b=B&b=B2'
pip install furl Its not a part of standard libraryThis seems a bit more Pythonic to me, and doesn't use any other modules:
x = '&'.join(["{}={}".format(k, v) for k, v in {'a':'A', 'b':'B'}.items()])
