furl is a small Python library that makes parsing and
manipulating URLs easy.

Python's standard urllib and urlparse modules provide a number of URL
related functions, but using these functions to perform common URL
operations proves tedious. Furl makes parsing and manipulating URLs
easy.

Furl is well tested, Unlicensed in the public domain, and supports
Python 2, Python 3, PyPy2, and PyPy3.

Code time: Paths and query arguments are easy. Really easy.

>>> from furl import furl
>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/?one=1&two=2')
>>> f /= 'path'
>>> del f.args['one']
>>> f.args['three'] = '3'
>>> f.url
'http://www.google.com/path?two=2&three=3'

Or use furl's inline modification methods.

>>> furl('http://www.google.com/?one=1').add({'two':'2'}).url
'http://www.google.com/?one=1&two=2'

>>> furl('http://www.google.com/?one=1&two=2').set({'three':'3'}).url
'http://www.google.com/?three=3'

>>> furl('http://www.google.com/?one=1&two=2').remove(['one']).url
'http://www.google.com/?two=2'

Encoding is handled for you. Unicode, too.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/')
>>> f.path = 'some encoding here'
>>> f.args['and some encoding'] = 'here, too'
>>> f.url
'http://www.google.com/some%20encoding%20here?and+some+encoding=here,+too'
>>> f.set(host=u'ドメイン.テスト', path=u'джк', query=u'☃=☺')
>>> f.url
'http://xn--eckwd4c7c.xn--zckzah/%D0%B4%D0%B6%D0%BA?%E2%98%83=%E2%98%BA'

Fragments also have a path and a query.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/')
>>> f.fragment.path.segments = ['two', 'directories']
>>> f.fragment.args = {'one': 'argument'}
>>> f.url
'http://www.google.com/#two/directories?one=argument'

Installation

Installing furl with pip is easy.

$ pip install furl

API

• Basics
• Scheme, Username, Password, Host, Port, Network Location, and Origin
• Path
  • Manipulation
• Query
  • Manipulation
  • Parameters
• Fragment
• Encoding
• Inline manipulation
• Miscellaneous

Basics

furl objects let you access and modify the various components of a URL.

scheme://username:password@host:port/path?query#fragment

• scheme is the scheme string (all lowercase) or None. None means no scheme. An empty string means a protocol relative URL, like //www.google.com.
• username is the username string for authentication.
• password is the password string for authentication with username.
• host is the domain name, IPv4, or IPv6 address as a string. Domain names are all lowercase.
• port is an integer or None. A value of None means no port specified and the default port for the given scheme should be inferred, if possible (e.g. port 80 for the scheme http).
• path is a Path object comprised of path segments.
• query is a Query object comprised of key:value query arguments.
• fragment is a Fragment object comprised of a Path object and Query object separated by an optional ? separator.

Scheme, Username, Password, Host, Port, Network Location, and Origin

scheme, username, password, and host are strings or None. port is an integer or None.

>>> f = furl('http://user:[email protected]:99/')
>>> f.scheme, f.username, f.password, f.host, f.port
('http', 'user', 'pass', 'www.google.com', 99)

furl infers the default port for common schemes.

>>> f = furl('https://secure.google.com/')
>>> f.port
443

>>> f = furl('unknown://www.google.com/')
>>> print(f.port)
None

netloc is the string combination of username, password, host, and port, not including port if it's None or the default port for the provided scheme.

>>> furl('http://www.google.com/').netloc
'www.google.com'

>>> furl('http://www.google.com:99/').netloc
'www.google.com:99'

>>> furl('http://user:[email protected]:99/').netloc
'user:[email protected]:99'

origin is the string combination of scheme, host, and port, not including port if it's None or the default port for the provided scheme.

>>> furl('http://www.google.com/').origin
'http://www.google.com'

>>> furl('http://www.google.com:99/').origin
'http://www.google.com:99'

Path

URL paths in furl are Path objects that have segments, a list of zero or more path segments that can be manipulated directly. Path segments in segments are percent-decoded and all interaction with segments should take place with percent-decoded strings.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/a/large%20ish/path')
>>> f.path
Path('/a/large ish/path')
>>> f.path.segments
['a', 'large ish', 'path']
>>> str(f.path)
'/a/large%20ish/path'

Manipulation

>>> f.path.segments = ['a', 'new', 'path', '']
>>> str(f.path)
'/a/new/path/'

>>> f.path = 'o/hi/there/with%20some%20encoding/'
>>> f.path.segments
['o', 'hi', 'there', 'with some encoding', '']
>>> str(f.path)
'/o/hi/there/with%20some%20encoding/'

>>> f.url
'http://www.google.com/o/hi/there/with%20some%20encoding/'

>>> f.path.segments = ['segments', 'are', 'maintained', 'decoded', '^`<>[]"#/?']
>>> str(f.path)
'/segments/are/maintained/decoded/%5E%60%3C%3E%5B%5D%22%23%2F%3F'

A path that starts with / is considered absolute, and a Path can be absolute or not as specified (or set) by the boolean attribute isabsolute. URL Paths have a special restriction: they must be absolute if a netloc (username, password, host, and/or port) is present. This restriction exists because a URL path must start with / to separate itself from the netloc, if present. Fragment Paths have no such limitation and isabsolute and can be True or False without restriction.

Here's a URL Path example that illustrates how isabsolute becomes True and read-only in the presence of a netloc.

>>> f = furl('/url/path')
>>> f.path.isabsolute
True
>>> f.path.isabsolute = False
>>> f.url
'url/path'
>>> f.host = 'blaps.ru'
>>> f.url
'blaps.ru/url/path'
>>> f.path.isabsolute
True
>>> f.path.isabsolute = False
Traceback (most recent call last):
  ...
AttributeError: Path.isabsolute is True and read-only for URLs with a netloc (a username, password, host, and/or port). URL paths must be absolute if a netloc exists.
>>> f.url
'blaps.ru/url/path'

Conversely, the isabsolute attribute of Fragment Paths isn't bound by the same read-only restriction. URL fragments are always prefixed by a # character and don't need to be separated from the netloc.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/#/absolute/fragment/path/')
>>> f.fragment.path.isabsolute
True
>>> f.fragment.path.isabsolute = False
>>> f.url
'http://www.google.com/#absolute/fragment/path/'
>>> f.fragment.path.isabsolute = True
>>> f.url
'http://www.google.com/#/absolute/fragment/path/'

A path that ends with / is considered a directory, and otherwise considered a file. The Path attribute isdir returns True if the path is a directory, False otherwise. Conversely, the attribute isfile returns True if the path is a file, False otherwise.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/a/directory/')
>>> f.path.isdir
True
>>> f.path.isfile
False

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/a/file')
>>> f.path.isdir
False
>>> f.path.isfile
True

A path can be normalized with normalize(), and normalize() returns the Path object for method chaining.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com////a/./b/lolsup/../c/')
>>> f.path.normalize()
>>> f.url
'http://www.google.com/a/b/c/'

Path segments can also be appended with the slash operator, like with pathlib.Path.

>>> from __future__ import division  # For Python 2.x.
>>>
>>> f = furl('path')
>>> f.path /= 'with'
>>> f.path = f.path / 'more' / 'path segments/'
>>> f.url
'/path/with/more/path%20segments/'

For a dictionary representation of a path, use asdict().

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/some/enc%20oding')
>>> f.path.asdict()
{ 'encoded': '/some/enc%20oding',
  'isabsolute': True,
  'isdir': False,
  'isfile': True,
  'segments': ['some', 'enc oding'] }

Query

URL queries in furl are Query objects that have params, a one dimensional ordered multivalue dictionary of query keys and values. Query keys and values in params are percent-decoded and all interaction with params should take place with percent-decoded strings.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/?one=1&two=2')
>>> f.query
Query('one=1&two=2')
>>> f.query.params
omdict1D([('one', '1'), ('two', '2')])
>>> str(f.query)
'one=1&two=2'

furl objects and Fragment objects (covered below) contain a Query object, and args is provided as a shortcut on these objects to access query.params.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/?one=1&two=2')
>>> f.query.params
omdict1D([('one', '1'), ('two', '2')])
>>> f.args
omdict1D([('one', '1'), ('two', '2')])
>>> f.args is f.query.params
True

Manipulation

params is a one dimensional ordered multivalue dictionary that maintains method parity with Python's standard dictionary.

>>> f.query = 'silicon=14&iron=26&inexorable%20progress=vae%20victus'
>>> f.query.params
omdict1D([('silicon', '14'), ('iron', '26'), ('inexorable progress', 'vae victus')])
>>> del f.args['inexorable progress']
>>> f.args['magnesium'] = '12'
>>> f.args
omdict1D([('silicon', '14'), ('iron', '26'), ('magnesium', '12')])

params can also store multiple values for the same key because it's a multivalue dictionary.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/?space=jams&space=slams')
>>> f.args['space']
'jams'
>>> f.args.getlist('space')
['jams', 'slams']
>>> f.args.addlist('repeated', ['1', '2', '3'])
>>> str(f.query)
'space=jams&space=slams&repeated=1&repeated=2&repeated=3'
>>> f.args.popvalue('space')
'slams'
>>> f.args.popvalue('repeated', '2')
'2'
>>> str(f.query)
'space=jams&repeated=1&repeated=3'

params is one dimensional. If a list of values is provided as a query value, that list is interpreted as multiple values.

>>> f = furl()
>>> f.args['repeated'] = ['1', '2', '3']
>>> f.add(args={'space':['jams', 'slams']})
>>> str(f.query)
'repeated=1&repeated=2&repeated=3&space=jams&space=slams'

This makes sense: URL queries are inherently one dimensional -- query values can't have native subvalues.

See the orderedmultimdict documentation for more information on interacting with the ordered multivalue dictionary params.

Parameters

To produce an empty query argument, like http://sprop.su/?param=, set the argument's value to the empty string.

>>> f = furl('http://sprop.su')
>>> f.args['param'] = ''
>>> f.url
'http://sprop.su/?param='

To produce an empty query argument without a trailing =, use None as the parameter value.

>>> f = furl('http://sprop.su')
>>> f.args['param'] = None
>>> f.url
'http://sprop.su/?param'

encode(delimiter='&', quote_plus=True, dont_quote='') can be used to encode query strings with delimiters like ;, encode spaces as + instead of %20 (i.e. application/x-www-form-urlencoded encoded), or avoid percent-encoding valid query characters entirely (valid query characters are /?:@-._~!$&'()*+,;=).

>>> f.query = 'space=jams&woofs=squeeze+dog'
>>> f.query.encode()
'space=jams&woofs=squeeze+dog'
>>> f.query.encode(';')
'space=jams;woofs=squeeze+dog'
>>> f.query.encode(quote_plus=False)
'space=jams&woofs=squeeze%20dog'

dont_quote accepts True, False, or a string of valid query characters to not percent-enode. If True, all valid query characters /?:@-._~!$&'()*+,;= aren't percent-encoded.

>>> f.query = 'one,two/three'
>>> f.query.encode()
'one%2Ctwo%2Fthree'
>>> f.query.encode(dont_quote=True)
'one,two/three'
>>> f.query.encode(dont_quote=',')
'one,two%2Fthree'

For a dictionary representation of a query, use asdict().

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/?space=ja+ms&space=slams')
>>> f.query.asdict()
{ 'encoded': 'space=ja+ms&space=slams',
  'params': [('space', 'ja ms'),
             ('space', 'slams')] }

Fragment

URL fragments in furl are Fragment objects that have a Path path and Query query separated by an optional ? separator.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/#/fragment/path?with=params')
>>> f.fragment
Fragment('/fragment/path?with=params')
>>> f.fragment.path
Path('/fragment/path')
>>> f.fragment.query
Query('with=params')
>>> f.fragment.separator
True

Manipulation of Fragments is done via the Fragment's Path and Query instances, path and query.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/#/fragment/path?with=params')
>>> str(f.fragment)
'/fragment/path?with=params'
>>> f.fragment.path.segments.append('file.ext')
>>> str(f.fragment)
'/fragment/path/file.ext?with=params'

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/#/fragment/path?with=params')
>>> str(f.fragment)
'/fragment/path?with=params'
>>> f.fragment.args['new'] = 'yep'
>>> str(f.fragment)
'/fragment/path?new=yep&with=params'

Creating hash-bang fragments with furl illustrates the use of Fragment's boolean attribute separator. When separator is False, the ? that separates path and query isn't included.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/')
>>> f.fragment.path = '!'
>>> f.fragment.args = {'a':'dict', 'of':'args'}
>>> f.fragment.separator
True
>>> str(f.fragment)
'!?a=dict&of=args'

>>> f.fragment.separator = False
>>> str(f.fragment)
'!a=dict&of=args'
>>> f.url
'http://www.google.com/#!a=dict&of=args'

For a dictionary representation of a fragment, use asdict().

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/#path?args=args')
>>> f.fragment.asdict()
{ 'encoded': 'path?args=args',
  'separator': True,
  'path': { 'encoded': 'path',
            'isabsolute': False,
            'isdir': False,
            'isfile': True,
            'segments': ['path']},
  'query': { 'encoded': 'args=args',
             'params': [('args', 'args')]} }

Encoding

Furl handles encoding for you, and furl's philosophy on encoding is simple: raw URL strings should always be percent-encoded.

>>> f = furl()
>>> f.netloc = '%40user:%[email protected]'
>>> f.username, f.password
'@user', ':pass'

>>> f = furl()
>>> f.path = 'supply%20percent%20encoded/path%20strings'
>>> f.path.segments
['supply percent encoded', 'path strings']

>>> f.set(query='supply+percent+encoded=query+strings,+too')
>>> f.query.params
omdict1D([('supply percent encoded', 'query strings, too')])

>>> f.set(fragment='percent%20encoded%20path?and+percent+encoded=query+too')
>>> f.fragment.path.segments
['percent encoded path']
>>> f.fragment.args
omdict1D([('and percent encoded', 'query too')])

Raw, non-URL strings should never be percent-encoded.

>>> f = furl('http://google.com')
>>> f.set(username='@prap', password=':porps')
>>> f.url
'http://%40prap:%[email protected]'

>>> f = furl()
>>> f.set(path=['path segments are', 'decoded', '<>[]"#'])
>>> str(f.path)
'/path%20segments%20are/decoded/%3C%3E%5B%5D%22%23'

>>> f.set(args={'query parameters':'and values', 'are':'decoded, too'})
>>> str(f.query)
'query+parameters=and+values&are=decoded,+too'

>>> f.fragment.path.segments = ['decoded', 'path segments']
>>> f.fragment.args = {'and decoded':'query parameters and values'}
>>> str(f.fragment)
'decoded/path%20segments?and+decoded=query+parameters+and+values'

Python's urllib.quote() and urllib.unquote() can be used to percent-encode and percent-decode path strings. Similarly, urllib.quote_plus() and urllib.unquote_plus() can be used to percent-encode and percent-decode query strings.

Inline manipulation

For quick, single-line URL manipulation, the add(), set(), and remove() methods of furl objects manipulate various URL components and return the furl object for method chaining.

>>> url = 'http://www.google.com/#fragment' 
>>> furl(url).add(args={'example':'arg'}).set(port=99).remove(fragment=True).url
'http://www.google.com:99/?example=arg'

add() adds items to a furl object with the optional arguments

• args: Shortcut for query_params.
• path: A list of path segments to add to the existing path segments, or a path string to join with the existing path string.
• query_params: A dictionary of query keys and values to add to the query.
• fragment_path: A list of path segments to add to the existing fragment path segments, or a path string to join with the existing fragment path string.
• fragment_args: A dictionary of query keys and values to add to the fragment's query.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/').add(
...   path='/search', fragment_path='frag/path', fragment_args={'frag':'arg'})
>>> f.url
'http://www.google.com/search#frag/path?frag=args'

set() sets items of a furl object with the optional arguments

• args: Shortcut for query_params.
• path: List of path segments or a path string to adopt.
• scheme: Scheme string to adopt.
• netloc: Network location string to adopt.
• origin: Origin string to adopt.
• query: Query string to adopt.
• query_params: A dictionary of query keys and values to adopt.
• fragment: Fragment string to adopt.
• fragment_path: A list of path segments to adopt for the fragment's path or a path string to adopt as the fragment's path.
• fragment_args: A dictionary of query keys and values for the fragment's query to adopt.
• fragment_separator: Boolean whether or not there should be a ? separator between the fragment path and the fragment query.
• host: Host string to adopt.
• port: Port number to adopt.
• username: Username string to adopt.
• password: password string to adopt.

>>> f = furl().set(
...   scheme='https', host='secure.google.com', port=99, path='index.html',
...   args={'some':'args'}, fragment='great job')
>>> f.url
'https://secure.google.com:99/index.html?some=args#great%20job'

remove() removes items from a furl object with the optional arguments

• args: Shortcut for query_params.
• path: A list of path segments to remove from the end of the existing path segments list, or a path string to remove from the end of the existing path string, or True to remove the entire path portion of the URL.
• query: A list of query keys to remove from the query, if they exist, or True to remove the entire query portion of the URL.
• query_params: A list of query keys to remove from the query, if they exist.
• fragment: If True, remove the entire fragment portion of the URL.
• fragment_path: A list of path segments to remove from the end of the fragment's path segments, or a path string to remove from the end of the fragment's path string, or True to remove the entire fragment path.
• fragment_args: A list of query keys to remove from the fragment's query, if they exist.
• username: If True, remove the username, if it exists.
• password: If True, remove the password, if it exists.

>>> url = 'https://secure.google.com:99/a/path/?some=args#great job'
>>> furl(url).remove(args=['some'], path='path/', fragment=True, port=True).url
'https://secure.google.com/a/'

Miscellaneous

Like pathlib.Path, path segments can be appended to a furl object's Path with the slash operator.

>>> from __future__ import division  # For Python 2.x.
>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com/path?example=arg#frag')
>>> f /= 'add'
>>> f = f / 'seg ments/'
>>> f.url
'http://www.google.com/path/add/seg%20ments/?example=arg#frag'

tostr(query_delimiter='&', query_quote_plus=True, query_dont_quote='') creates and returns a URL string. query_delimiter, query_quote_plus, and query_dont_quote are passed unmodified to Query.encode() as delimiter, quote_plus, and dont_quote respectively.

>>> f = furl('http://spep.ru/?a+b=c+d&two%20tap=cat%20nap%24')
>>> f.tostr()
'http://spep.ru/?a+b=c+d&two+tap=cat+nap$'
>>> f.tostr(query_delimiter=';', query_quote_plus=False)
'http://spep.ru/?a%20b=c%20d;two%20tap=cat%20nap$'
>>> f.tostr(query_dont_quote='$')
'http://spep.ru/?a+b=c+d&two+tap=cat+nap$'

furl.url is a shortcut for furl.tostr().

>>> f.url
'http://spep.ru/?a+b=c+d&two+tap=cat+nap$'
>>> f.url == f.tostr() == str(f)
True

copy() creates and returns a new furl object with an identical URL.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com')
>>> f.copy().set(path='/new/path').url
'http://www.google.com/new/path'
>>> f.url
'http://www.google.com'

join() joins the furl object's URL with the provided relative or absolute URL and returns the furl object for method chaining. join()'s action is the same as navigating to the provided URL from the current URL in a web browser.

>>> f = furl('http://www.google.com')
>>> f.join('new/path').url
'http://www.google.com/new/path'
>>> f.join('replaced').url
'http://www.google.com/new/replaced'
>>> f.join('../parent').url
'http://www.google.com/parent'
>>> f.join('path?query=yes#fragment').url
'http://www.google.com/path?query=yes#fragment'
>>> f.join('unknown://www.yahoo.com/new/url/').url
'unknown://www.yahoo.com/new/url/'

For a dictionary representation of a URL, use asdict().

>>> f = furl('https://xn--eckwd4c7c.xn--zckzah/path?args=args#frag')
>>> f.asdict()
{ 'url': 'https://xn--eckwd4c7c.xn--zckzah/path?args=args#frag',
  'scheme': 'https',
  'username': None
  'password': None,
  'host': 'ドメイン.テスト',
  'host_encoded': 'xn--eckwd4c7c.xn--zckzah',
  'port': 443,
  'netloc': 'xn--eckwd4c7c.xn--zckzah',
  'origin': 'https://xn--eckwd4c7c.xn--zckzah',
  'path': { 'encoded': '/path',
            'isabsolute': True,
            'isdir': False,
            'isfile': True,
            'segments': ['path']},
  'query': { 'encoded': 'args=args',
             'params': [('args', 'args')]},
  'fragment': { 'encoded': 'frag',
                'path': { 'encoded': 'frag',
                          'isabsolute': False,
                          'isdir': False,
                          'isfile': True,
                          'segments': ['frag']},
                'query': { 'encoded': '',
                           'params': []},
                'separator': True} }