Parsing the URL path

A URL is a complex object. It contains at least six separate pieces of information. More data can be included via optional elements.

A URL such as http://127.0.0.1:5000/dealer/hand/player_1?$format=json has several fields:

• http is the scheme. https is for secure connections using encrypted sockets.
• 127.0.0.1 can be called the authority, although network location is more commonly used.
• 5000 is the port number and is often considered to be part of the authority.
• /dealer/hand/player_1 is the path to a resource.
• $format=json is a query string.

The path to a resource can be quite complex. It's common in RESTful web services to use the path information to identify groups of resources, individual resources, and even relationships among resources.

In this recipe, we'll see how Flask lets us parse complex URL patterns.

Getting ready

Most web services provide access to some kind of resource. In the Using...