The Beginner’s Guide to File Handling in Web Applications with Python

File Uploads and Downloads Made Easy for Web Developers

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Welcome to the world of web development with Python! If you’re building web applications, chances are you’ll need to deal with file handling at some point. Whether it’s allowing users to upload profile pictures, sharing documents, or downloading reports, file handling is a crucial skill to master.

In this article, we’ll dive into the basics of file handling in web applications using Python, covering both uploads and downloads.

Uploading Files

Let’s start with file uploads. In a web application, users often need to upload files such as images, documents, or other data. Python makes this process relatively straightforward with the help of libraries like Flask or Django.

Here’s an example using Flask:

from flask import Flask, request

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/upload', methods=['POST'])
def upload_file():
    file = request.files['file']
    if file:
        file.save('uploads/' + file.filename)
        return 'File uploaded successfully!'
    else:
        return 'No file uploaded.'

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run(debug=True)