Python Requests Examples for File Upload, Download, and Validation

This guide provides ten practical examples using the Python requests library to perform common file‑related operations in backend development.

1. Upload a file to a server

import requests

def test_upload_file():
    url = "https://api.example.com/upload"
    file_path = "path/to/file.txt"
    with open(file_path, "rb") as file:
        files = {"file": ("file.txt", file)}
        response = requests.post(url, files=files)
        assert response.status_code == 200
        assert response.json()["message"] == "File uploaded successfully"

2. Download a file and save locally

import requests

def test_download_file():
    url = "https://api.example.com/download"
    local_path = "path/to/local/file.txt"
    response = requests.get(url)
    with open(local_path, "wb") as file:
        file.write(response.content)
    assert response.status_code == 200

3. Compare two files' contents

import requests

def test_compare_files():
    url = "https://api.example.com/download"
    local_path = "path/to/local/file.txt"
    remote_path = "path/to/remote/file.txt"
    with open(local_path, "r") as local_file, open(remote_path, "r") as remote_file:
        local_content = local_file.read()
        remote_content = remote_file.read()
    assert local_content == remote_content

4. Read a CSV file and send each row as request parameters

import csv
import requests

def test_send_csv_data():
    url = "https://api.example.com/csv"
    file_path = "path/to/file.csv"
    with open(file_path, newline='') as csvfile:
        reader = csv.DictReader(csvfile)
        for row in reader:
            response = requests.post(url, data=row)
            assert response.status_code == 200

5. Read a JSON file and POST it as the request body

import json
import requests

def test_send_json_data():
    url = "https://api.example.com/json"
    file_path = "path/to/file.json"
    with open(file_path, "r") as file:
        data = json.load(file)
    response = requests.post(url, json=data)
    assert response.status_code == 200

6. Download a file and validate its size

import requests

def test_validate_file_size():
    url = "https://api.example.com/download"
    response = requests.get(url)
    file_size = len(response.content)
    assert file_size == 1024  # assumed size in bytes

7. Upload a file and verify the returned filename

import requests

def test_validate_uploaded_filename():
    url = "https://api.example.com/upload"
    file_path = "path/to/file.txt"
    with open(file_path, "rb") as file:
        files = {"file": ("file.txt", file)}
        response = requests.post(url, files=files)
        assert response.status_code == 200
        assert response.json()["filename"] == "file.txt"

8. Upload multiple files in a single request

import requests

def test_upload_multiple_files():
    url = "https://api.example.com/upload"
    files = [
        ("file", ("file1.txt", open("path/to/file1.txt", "rb"))),
        ("file", ("file2.txt", open("path/to/file2.txt", "rb")))
    ]
    response = requests.post(url, files=files)
    assert response.status_code == 200
    assert len(response.json()["uploaded_files"]) == 2

9. Upload a file and validate its MD5 checksum

import hashlib
import requests

def test_validate_md5_checksum():
    url = "https://api.example.com/upload"
    file_path = "path/to/file.txt"
    with open(file_path, "rb") as file:
        files = {"file": ("file.txt", file)}
        response = requests.post(url, files=files)
        assert response.status_code == 200
    md5_hash = hashlib.md5()
    with open(file_path, "rb") as file:
        while chunk := file.read(8192):
            md5_hash.update(chunk)
    assert response.json()["md5"] == md5_hash.hexdigest()

10. Upload a file and verify its MIME type

import mimetypes
import requests

def test_validate_mimetype():
    url = "https://api.example.com/upload"
    file_path = "path/to/image.jpg"
    with open(file_path, "rb") as file:
        files = {"file": ("image.jpg", file)}
        response = requests.post(url, files=files)
        assert response.status_code == 200
        assert response.json()["mimetype"] == mimetypes.guess_type(file_path)[0]

All URLs and file paths are placeholders; replace them with real endpoints and locations when applying these examples in your own projects.