cpython/Doc/library/simplehttpserver.rst

:mod:`SimpleHTTPServer` --- Simple HTTP request handler
=======================================================

.. module:: SimpleHTTPServer
   :synopsis: This module provides a basic request handler for HTTP servers.
.. sectionauthor:: Moshe Zadka <moshez@zadka.site.co.il>


The :mod:`SimpleHTTPServer` module defines a request-handler class,
interface-compatible with :class:`BaseHTTPServer.BaseHTTPRequestHandler`, that
serves files only from a base directory.

The :mod:`SimpleHTTPServer` module defines the following class:


.. class:: SimpleHTTPRequestHandler(request, client_address, server)

   This class is used to serve files from the current directory and below, directly
   mapping the directory structure to HTTP requests.

   A lot of the work, such as parsing the request, is done by the base class
   :class:`BaseHTTPServer.BaseHTTPRequestHandler`.  This class implements the
   :func:`do_GET` and :func:`do_HEAD` functions.

The :class:`SimpleHTTPRequestHandler` defines the following member variables:


.. attribute:: SimpleHTTPRequestHandler.server_version

   This will be ``"SimpleHTTP/" + __version__``, where ``__version__`` is defined
   in the module.


.. attribute:: SimpleHTTPRequestHandler.extensions_map

   A dictionary mapping suffixes into MIME types. The default is signified by an
   empty string, and is considered to be ``application/octet-stream``. The mapping
   is used case-insensitively, and so should contain only lower-cased keys.

The :class:`SimpleHTTPRequestHandler` defines the following methods:


.. method:: SimpleHTTPRequestHandler.do_HEAD()

   This method serves the ``'HEAD'`` request type: it sends the headers it would
   send for the equivalent ``GET`` request. See the :meth:`do_GET` method for a
   more complete explanation of the possible headers.


.. method:: SimpleHTTPRequestHandler.do_GET()

   The request is mapped to a local file by interpreting the request as a path
   relative to the current working directory.

   If the request was mapped to a directory, the directory is checked for a file
   named ``index.html`` or ``index.htm`` (in that order). If found, the file's
   contents are returned; otherwise a directory listing is generated by calling the
   :meth:`list_directory` method. This method uses :func:`os.listdir` to scan the
   directory, and returns a ``404`` error response if the :func:`listdir` fails.

   If the request was mapped to a file, it is opened and the contents are returned.
   Any :exc:`IOError` exception in opening the requested file is mapped to a
   ``404``, ``'File not found'`` error. Otherwise, the content type is guessed by
   calling the :meth:`guess_type` method, which in turn uses the *extensions_map*
   variable.

   A ``'Content-type:'`` header with the guessed content type is output, followed
   by a ``'Content-Length:'`` header with the file's size and a
   ``'Last-Modified:'`` header with the file's modification time.

   Then follows a blank line signifying the end of the headers, and then the
   contents of the file are output. If the file's MIME type starts with ``text/``
   the file is opened in text mode; otherwise binary mode is used.

   For example usage, see the implementation of the :func:`test` function.

   .. versionadded:: 2.5
      The ``'Last-Modified'`` header.


.. seealso::

   Module :mod:`BaseHTTPServer`
      Base class implementation for Web server and request handler.