Download a file over HTTP using Python

Question

I struggled though to find a way to actually down load the file in Python, thus why I resorted to wget.

I have a small utility that I use to download a MP3 from a website on a schedule and then builds/updates a podcast XML file which I've obviously added to iTunes.

The text processing that creates/updates the XML file is written in Python. I use wget inside a Windows .bat file to download the actual MP3 however. I would prefer to have the entire utility written in Python though.

So, how do I download the file using Python?

Answer 1

In Python 2, use urllib2 which comes with the standard library.

import urllib2
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.example.com/')
html = response.read()

This is the most basic way to use the library, minus any error handling. You can also do more complex stuff such as changing headers. The documentation can be found here.