Usage of HTTPResponse.url #86228

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1. fbidu commented on Oct 17, 2020

   

   fbidumannequin

   on Oct 17, 2020

   MannequinAuthor

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   Hello all,

   While testing some static analysis tools on HTTP/client.py, Pylint pointed
   me to HTTPResponse.geturl() method with a "no-member" error for the url
   attribute. I tried invoking the geturl method and reading the
   HTTPResponse.url attribute using a sample code from the official docs:

   import http.client
   conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("www.python.org")
   conn.request("GET", "/")
   r1 = conn.getresponse()
   print(r1.status, r1.reason)
   
   r1.geturl()
   r1.url
   

   import http.client
   conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("www.python.org")
   conn.request("GET", "/")
   r1 = conn.getresponse()
   data1 = r1.read()
   
   conn.request("GET", "/")
   r1 = conn.getresponse()
   while chunk := r1.read(200):
       print(repr(chunk))
   r1.geturl()
   r1.url
   

   Both of those examples will raise an AttributeError: 'HTTPResponse' object has no attribute 'url'.

   I tried searching through this module's history from when this line originally appeared,
   6c5e28c but
   I wasn't able to find this attribute being set internally by the class, even
   though there is an url attribute at init.

   So, I wonder if this attribute was intended to be set externally as in r1.url = 'something'
   or if it is just a bug
2. fbidu

   added

   stdlibStandard Library Python modules in the Lib/ directoryStandard Library Python modules in the Lib/ directory

   on Oct 17, 2020
3. vadmium commented on Oct 18, 2020

   

   vadmium

   on Oct 18, 2020

   Member

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   There is a comment in the HTTPResponse class regarding these methods:

   # For compatibility with old-style urllib responses.

   They were there for the "urlopen" API in "urllib.request", not for the "http.client" module on its own. I expect the "url" attribute is set by the "urlopen" code.

   However more recently (bpo-12707) the "url" attribute and "geturl" method were documented in the HTTPResponse documentation, which is awkward.
4. ezio-melotti

   transferred this issue fromon Apr 10, 2022
5. dimo414 commented on Jan 9, 2024

   

   dimo414

   on Jan 9, 2024

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   This seems to still be broken in 3.12:

   $ docker run --rm python:3.12 python -c \
     'import http.client as httplib; conn = httplib.HTTPConnection("google.com"); conn.request("GET", "/"); print(conn.getresponse().geturl())'
   Traceback (most recent call last):
     File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
     File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/http/client.py", line 790, in geturl
       return self.url
              ^^^^^^^^
   AttributeError: 'HTTPResponse' object has no attribute 'url'
   

   
   HTTPResponse.url doesn't exist, and HTTPResponse.geturl() is broken. I tried 3.12, 3.11, 3.10, 3.9, and 3.8 (prior to #11447), it doesn't look like this has ever worked.

   FYI @merwok and @matrixise who approved #11447.
6. merwok commented on Jan 9, 2024

   

   merwok

   on Jan 9, 2024

   Member

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   Tangent: I now wish the original PR had also updated the docstrings on the deprecated methods (it only added a code comment).

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by Michael Diamond
7. vadmium commented on Feb 6, 2024

   

   vadmium

   on Feb 6, 2024

   Member

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   Another problem with this documentation is it suggests HTTPResponse.headers is an EmailMessage instance, while HTTPResponse.msg remains only a (subclassed) instance of email.message.Message. And addinfourl.info and addinfourl.headers are now supposed to return an EmailMessage, although .info was previously (indirectly) documented to return an email.message.Message.

   I tested Python 3.10.2 and it seems HTTPResponse.headers has not changed because the object didn’t have one of the methods unique to EmailMessage:

   >>> u = urlopen('http://google.com')
   >>> u.headers.is_attachment
   Traceback (most recent call last):
     File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
   AttributeError: 'HTTPMessage' object has no attribute 'is_attachment'

   👍React with 👍1Reacted by Michael Diamond
8. warren-bank

   added a commit that references this issue on Jan 24, 2025

   [fix] AttributeError: 'HTTPResponse' object has no attribute 'url'

   ...

   2dd326d
9. futurend commented on May 26, 2025

   

   futurend

   on May 26, 2025

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   Still present on Python 3.13.3 in 26 may 2025
10. fbidu

    added 2 commits that reference this issue on Jun 16, 2026

    pythongh-86228: Initialize HTTPResponse.url in __init__ (bpo-42062)

    ...

    f6d81f5

    pythongh-86228: Initialize HTTPResponse.url in __init__ (bpo-42062)

    ...

    1d9213c
11. serhiy-storchaka

    added this to HTTP issueson Jul 3, 2026
12. github-project-automation

    moved this to Todo in HTTP issueson Jul 3, 2026