Serving Files with Python's SimpleHTTPServer

Serving Files with Python's SimpleHTTPServer

- 4 mins
python linux

Serving Files with Python’s SimpleHTTPServer

Introduction

A server processes requests and delivers data over a network. Web servers like Apache and Nginx are powerful but often unnecessary for simple tasks. Python’s built-in http.server module provides an easy way to serve files locally.

Note: This should not be used in production due to basic security checks.

What is an HTTP Server?

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) defines rules for communication between a client (e.g., web browser) and a server. When you visit a website, the browser sends a request to a server, which responds with HTML content.

Python’s SimpleHTTPServer Module

For quick file sharing, Python provides http.server. This built-in module eliminates the need for complex server setup.

Starting a Simple HTTP Server

Let’s create dummy files to test:

for i in {1..5}; do touch file-$i; done

file

Run the following command in your terminal from the directory you want to serve:

Python 2:

python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8000

Python 3:

python3 -m http.server 8000

Now, open http://localhost:8000 in your browser to access the files in that directory. (or use your remote box ip)

file

file

Using Python Code to Start a Server

Instead of running it via the terminal, we can set up an HTTP server in a script:

import http.server
import socketserver

PORT = 8000
handler = http.server.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler

with socketserver.TCPServer(("", PORT), handler) as httpd:
    print(f"Server started at localhost:{PORT}")
    httpd.serve_forever()

Run the script using:

python3 server.py

This serves files from the script’s directory at http://localhost:8000. (or use your remote box ip)

file

Customizing Request Handling

We can extend SimpleHTTPRequestHandler to customize response handling. Below, we serve a specific file on the root path (/):

import http.server
import socketserver

class CustomHandler(http.server.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler):
    def do_GET(self):
        if self.path == '/':
            self.path = 'index.html'
        return http.server.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler.do_GET(self)

PORT = 8000
server = socketserver.TCPServer(("", PORT), CustomHandler)
server.serve_forever()

Serving Dynamic HTML

We can generate dynamic responses based on query parameters:

import http.server
import socketserver
from urllib.parse import urlparse, parse_qs

class DynamicHandler(http.server.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler):
    def do_GET(self):
        self.send_response(200)
        self.send_header("Content-type", "text/html")
        self.end_headers()
        
        query = parse_qs(urlparse(self.path).query)
        name = query.get("name", ["World"])[0]
        html = f"<html><body><h1>Hello, {name}!</h1></body></html>"
        self.wfile.write(bytes(html, "utf8"))

PORT = 8000
server = socketserver.TCPServer(("", PORT), DynamicHandler)
server.serve_forever()

Accessing http://localhost:8000?name=Guney displays Hello, Guney!.

file

file

Conclusion

Python’s http.server module is a simple and effective tool for serving local files. While great for development and testing, it should not be used in production environments due to security limitations.

Thanks for reading…

:+1: :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1:

Guneycan Sanli.

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Guneycan Sanli

Guneycan Sanli

A person who like learning, music, travelling and sports.

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