Python requests module sends JSON string instead of x-www-form-urlencoded param string

Question

I was under the impression that POSTSs using x-www-form-urlencoded specifications should send a URL encoded param string in the body of the post. However, when I do this

Answer 1

The reason you're getting JSON is because you're explicitly calling json.dumps to generate a JSON string. Just don't do that, and you won't get a JSON string. In other words, change your first line to this:

data = {'param1': 'value1', 'param2': 'value2'}

As the docs explain, if you pass a dict as the data value, it will be form-encoded, while if you pass a string, it will be sent as-is.

---

For example, in one terminal window:

$ nc -kl 8765

In another:

$ python3
>>> import requests
>>> d = {'spam': 20, 'eggs': 3}
>>> requests.post("http://localhost:8765", data=d)
^C
>>> import json
>>> j = json.dumps(d)
>>> requests.post("http://localhost:8765", data=j)
^C

In the first terminal, you'll see that the first request body is this (and Content-Type application/x-www-form-urlencoded):

spam=20&eggs=3

… while the second is this (and has no Content-Type):

{"spam": 20, "eggs": 3}

Answer 2

Important to add it does not work for nested json So, if you have

# Wrong
data = {'param1': {'a':[100, 200]},
        'param2': 'value2',
        'param3': False}

# You have to convert values into string:
data = {'param1': json.dumps({'a':[100, 200]}),
        'param2': 'value2',
        'param3': json.dumps(False)}