How to get python 3 to display html and dynamic content when running http.server

Question

So I am currently trying to get python to output html on a webpage. Its not working, as there is nothing on the screen, and not sure why. Running the server like so:

from http.server import HTTPServer, CGIHTTPRequestHandler

port = 8080

httpd = HTTPServer(('', port), CGIHTTPRequestHandler)
print("Starting simple_httpd on port: " + str(httpd.server_port))
httpd.serve_forever()

My simple file, which is just to test and make sure I can accomplish this the way I am trying to. I am receiving this form a form that has one input for an email:

#! /usr/local/bin/python3
#This file is used for testing to make sure output to browser is as expected

import cgi
form_data = cgi.FieldStorage()
email = form_data['email'].value

print("<!doctype html> <br />")
print("<html> <head></head><body>")

print("<p>This is the email info: " + email+</p>)
print("</body>")
print("<html>")

I am new to python, and essentially just trying to print this out. I have searched and have yet to find an answer. So I am hoping the distinguished minds of stack overflow can help me out. I don't want a framework, just to be able to print out few things, but not sure why its not working.

The code as posted has a syntax error and won't run: the </p> should be in quotes. If that's not just a copy-paste error, it could be that the server is catching that error somewhere along the way and just not showing anything. Also, if you view source in your browser, is there anything there? — Danica
– Danica, Commented Apr 29, 2012 at 6:59

sajattack · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-29 06:52:44Z

1

You're not closing your html tag. Change the last one to /html.

answered Apr 29, 2012 at 6:52

sajattack

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3 Comments

Andy Over a year ago

Restarted the server and still the same error. In my experience, those mistakes rarely cause a blank page. In scripting errors, yes, to in html. But thank you for pointing it out.

sajattack Over a year ago

Where are you storing the cgi in relation to your web server code? According to an example I'm looking at in Programming Python 4th ed, they should be in server script folder\cgi-bin.

Andy Over a year ago

At first I tried it just in the main folder. Then I tried that incase that might have been the issues. In either case, the error persists.

Andy · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-30 02:31:11Z

0

I have been looking for my answer for about a day and finally found an answer. It was the simplest thing, but something that surprises me no python developer knows. Apparently one needs to add this line before outputting anything:

print('Content-type: text/html \n')

Now I have never dealt with CGI scripts before python, so I am not sure if that is a requirement of all of them. For this reason, I cannot be sure of the actual reason behind it. It must also be important to note that the new character line must be present as it will not work without it as well. Not too sure about that either. I hope someone who has a similar problem, will stumble upon this as it greatly simplifies making a small webpage on python rather than learning a framework, which allows them to focus on the python code.

I would also appreciate anyone who actually knows why the above fix has to be done.

answered Apr 30, 2012 at 2:31

Andy

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2 Comments

sajattack Over a year ago

The examples I was looking at had that but I overlooked it partly for the same reason as you, it seems odd that it would cause such a huge issue, and partly because I thought it was equivalent to your doctype html declaration.

Andy Over a year ago

I know right. Its such a small thing. Do you have experience in other CGI type languages @sajattack ?

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