How to download a file using python in a 'smarter' way?

Question

I need to download several files via http in Python.

The most obvious way to do it is just using urllib2:

import urllib2
u = urllib2.urlopen(\'http:/         


        

Answer 1

Based on comments and @Oli's anwser, I made a solution like this:

from os.path import basename
from urlparse import urlsplit

def url2name(url):
    return basename(urlsplit(url)[2])

def download(url, localFileName = None):
    localName = url2name(url)
    req = urllib2.Request(url)
    r = urllib2.urlopen(req)
    if r.info().has_key('Content-Disposition'):
        # If the response has Content-Disposition, we take file name from it
        localName = r.info()['Content-Disposition'].split('filename=')[1]
        if localName[0] == '"' or localName[0] == "'":
            localName = localName[1:-1]
    elif r.url != url: 
        # if we were redirected, the real file name we take from the final URL
        localName = url2name(r.url)
    if localFileName: 
        # we can force to save the file as specified name
        localName = localFileName
    f = open(localName, 'wb')
    f.write(r.read())
    f.close()

It takes file name from Content-Disposition; if it's not present, uses filename from the URL (if redirection happened, the final URL is taken into account).