Python Dictionary to URL Parameters

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I am trying to convert a Python dictionary to a string for use as URL parameters. I am sure that there is a better, more Pythonic way of doing this. What is it?

x = ""
for key, val in {'a':'A', 'b':'B'}.items():
    x += "%s=%s&" %(key,val)
x = x[:-1]
5 Answers

Use urllib.parse.urlencode(). It takes a dictionary of key-value pairs, and converts it into a form suitable for a URL (e.g., key1=val1&key2=val2).

For your example:

>>> import urllib.parse
>>> params = {'a':'A', 'b':'B'}
>>> urllib.parse.urlencode(params)
'a=A&b=B'

If you want to make a URL with repetitive params such as: p=1&p=2&p=3 you have two options:

>>> a = (('p',1),('p',2), ('p', 3))
>>> urllib.parse.urlencode(a)
'p=1&p=2&p=3'

or:

>>> urllib.parse.urlencode({'p': [1, 2, 3]}, doseq=True)
'p=1&p=2&p=3'

If you are still using Python 2, use urllib.urlencode().

For python 3, the urllib library has changed a bit, now you have to do:

from urllib.parse import urlencode


params = {'a':'A', 'b':'B'}

urlencode(params)

Here is the correct way of using it in Python 3.

from urllib.parse import urlencode
params = {'a':'A', 'b':'B'}
print(urlencode(params))
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