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HTTP Request Timeout

Zero-dependency Python snippets for using timeouts in HTTP requests with the standard library.

3 snippets available in this sub-category.

Simple

HTTP GET with timeout

http get timeout request web urllib

HTTP GET request with timeout

import urllib.request
import urllib.error

def http_get_with_timeout(url, timeout=5):
    """HTTP GET request with a timeout (in seconds)."""
    try:
        with urllib.request.urlopen(url, timeout=timeout) as response:
            return response.read().decode("utf-8")
    except urllib.error.URLError as e:
        print(f"Timeout or URL error: {e.reason}")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Unexpected error: {e}")
    return None

# Example usage
url = "https://httpbin.org/delay/2"  # Delays response by 2 seconds
result = http_get_with_timeout(url, timeout=1)
print(result)  # None, with timeout error printed

Notes

  • Timeout is in seconds (float or int)
  • Raises URLError if the server does not respond in time
  • Always handle exceptions for production code

HTTP POST with timeout

http post timeout request web urllib

HTTP POST request with timeout

import urllib.request
import urllib.parse
import urllib.error

def http_post_with_timeout(url, data, timeout=5):
    """HTTP POST request with a timeout (in seconds)."""
    try:
        encoded_data = urllib.parse.urlencode(data).encode("utf-8")
        with urllib.request.urlopen(url, data=encoded_data, timeout=timeout) as response:
            return response.read().decode("utf-8")
    except urllib.error.URLError as e:
        print(f"Timeout or URL error: {e.reason}")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Unexpected error: {e}")
    return None

# Example usage
url = "https://httpbin.org/delay/3"
data = {"test": 123}
result = http_post_with_timeout(url, data, timeout=1)
print(result)  # None, with timeout error printed

Notes

  • Timeout applies to the entire request (connect + read)
  • Use try/except to handle timeouts gracefully

Complex

Custom timeout and edge cases

http get timeout edge-case error web

HTTP GET with custom/short timeout and unreachable server

import urllib.request
import urllib.error

def http_get_with_timeout(url, timeout=5):
    # Function is defined in one of the above code block
    pass


def http_get_with_short_timeout(url):
    """HTTP GET with a very short timeout (edge case)."""
    try:
        with urllib.request.urlopen(url, timeout=0.001) as response:
            return response.read().decode("utf-8")
    except urllib.error.URLError as e:
        print(f"Likely timeout: {e.reason}")
    return None

# Example usage
url = "https://httpbin.org/get"
result = http_get_with_short_timeout(url)
print(result)  # None, with likely timeout error

# Edge case: Unreachable server
url = "http://10.255.255.1"  # Non-routable IP
result = http_get_with_timeout(url, timeout=2)
print(result)  # None, with timeout or unreachable error

Notes

  • Very short timeouts almost always fail
  • Unreachable servers raise URLError (timeout or connection refused)

🔗 Cross-References

🏷️ Tags

http, timeout, get, post, request, web, error, edge-case, urllib

📝 Notes

  • Timeout is not a guarantee; network conditions may vary
  • For more granular control, use socket.setdefaulttimeout() (affects all requests)
  • Always test timeouts in your deployment environment
  • For async or non-blocking requests, consider asyncio or third-party libraries