Download a file from https with authentication

Question

I have a Python 2.6 script that downloades a file from a web server. I want this this script to pass a username and password(for authenrication before fetching the file) and I am passing them as part of the url as follows:

import urllib2
response = urllib2.urlopen("http://'user1':'password'@server_name/file")

However, I am getting syntax error in this case. Is this the correct way to go about it? I am pretty new to Python and coding in general. Can anybody help me out? Thanks!

Answer 1

I suppose you are trying to pass through a Basic Authentication. In this case, you can handle it this way:

import urllib2

username = 'user1'
password = '123456'

#This should be the base url you wanted to access.
baseurl = 'http://server_name.com'

#Create a password manager
manager = urllib2.HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm()
manager.add_password(None, baseurl, username, password)

#Create an authentication handler using the password manager
auth = urllib2.HTTPBasicAuthHandler(manager)

#Create an opener that will replace the default urlopen method on further calls
opener = urllib2.build_opener(auth)
urllib2.install_opener(opener)

#Here you should access the full url you wanted to open
response = urllib2.urlopen(baseurl + "/file")

Answer 2

If you can use the requests library, it's insanely easy. I'd highly recommend using it if possible:

import requests

url = 'http://somewebsite.org'
user, password = 'bob', 'I love cats'
resp = requests.get(url, auth=(user, password))

Answer 3

Use requests library and just put the credentials inside your .netrc file.

The library will load them from there and you will be able to commit the code to your SCM of choice without any security worries.