Handling Request Headers in Requests

HTTP headers provide additional context and metadata for requests and responses. In Python’s Requests library, you can customize headers to meet specific needs or work with default headers provided by the library.

Understanding Default Headers

The Requests library automatically includes some default headers in every request, such as User-Agent. These headers can be viewed and overridden if necessary.

Example: Viewing Default Headers

import requests
 
response = requests.get("https://httpbin.org/headers")
print("Default Headers:", response.request.headers)

Output

Default Headers: {
    'User-Agent': 'python-requests/2.25.1',
    'Accept-Encoding': 'gzip, deflate',
    'Accept': '*/*',
    'Connection': 'keep-alive'
}

Adding Custom Headers

You can specify custom headers for a request using the headers parameter. This is useful for passing API keys, content types, or other required information.

Example: Adding Custom Headers

url = "https://api.example.com/data"
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}
 
response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
print("Response Status Code:", response.status_code)
print("Response Headers:", response.headers)

Combining Default and Custom Headers

When you provide custom headers, they replace the corresponding default headers but do not overwrite all of them. If you need full control, ensure to include default headers explicitly.

Example: Customizing Default Headers

headers = {
    "User-Agent": "MyCustomAgent/1.0",
    "Accept": "application/json"
}
 
response = requests.get("https://httpbin.org/headers", headers=headers)
print("Headers Sent:", response.request.headers)

Output

Headers Sent: {
    'User-Agent': 'MyCustomAgent/1.0',
    'Accept': 'application/json',
    'Accept-Encoding': 'gzip, deflate',
    'Connection': 'keep-alive'
}

Try It Yourself

Problem 1: Custom User-Agent Header

Send a GET request to https://httpbin.org/headers with a custom User-Agent header (e.g., “MyApp/2.0”).

import requests
 
url = "https://httpbin.org/headers"
headers = {"User-Agent": "MyApp/2.0"}
 
response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
print("Headers Sent:", response.request.headers)
print("Response JSON:", response.json())

Problem 2: Adding Authorization Header

Send a GET request to https://api.example.com/data with an Authorization header containing the value “Bearer YOUR_API_KEY”.

import requests
 
url = "https://api.example.com/data"
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"}
 
response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
print("Status Code:", response.status_code)
print("Response Headers:", response.headers)

Customizing request headers is essential for working with APIs and handling various HTTP interactions. Experiment with default and custom headers to build flexible and robust applications!