Flask File Uploads Uploading Files
Example
HTML Form
- Use a
filetype input and the browser will provide a field that lets the user select a file to upload. - Only forms with the
postmethod can send file data. - Make sure to set the form's
enctype=multipart/form-dataattribute. Otherwise the file's name will be sent but not the file's data. - Use the
multipleattribute on the input to allow selecting multiple files for the single field.
<form method=post enctype=multipart/form-data>
<!-- single file for the "profile" field -->
<input type=file name=profile>
<!-- multiple files for the "charts" field -->
<input type=file multiple name=charts>
<input type=submit>
</form>
Python Requests
Requests is a powerful Python library for making HTTP requests. You can use it (or other tools) to post files without a browser.
- Open the files to read in binary mode.
- There are multiple data structures that
filestakes. This demonstrates a list of(name, data)tuples, which allows multiple files like the form above.
import requests
with open('profile.txt', 'rb') as f1, open('chart1.csv', 'rb') as f2, open('chart2.csv', 'rb') as f3:
files = [
('profile', f1),
('charts', f2),
('charts', f3)
]
requests.post('http://localhost:5000/upload', files=files)
This is not meant to be an exhaustive list. For examples using your favorite tool or more complex scenarios, see the docs for that tool.
