PythonBeginner · Windows, macOS, or Linux with Python 3.12+

Test an HTTP conditional request

Check whether a server returns 304 for a supplied cache validator.

Before you begin

  • Python 3.12 or newer
What this script changesMakes requests only to supplied targets; run checks against services you own or have permission to inspect. No credentials are accepted. HTTP bodies default to 1 MiB and socket operations have a timeout; urllib's system DNS resolution can exceed the socket timeout. This is a one-shot tool, not a scheduled monitor.

Set up your example

  1. Save the complete code as http-conditional-check.py in a working folder.
  2. Save the provided sample files in that same folder; run commands from that folder.
  3. For the provided local HTTP examples, open another terminal in this folder and run: python -m http.server 8765 --bind 127.0.0.1. Keep it running while using the tool.

Sample files in this download:

  • urls.txt
  • sample.txt
  • data.json
  • page1.json
  • page2.json
  • robots.txt
  • ips.txt

Download the ZIP, extract it, and open a terminal inside the extracted folder. The source file is http-conditional-check.py.

Run the script

Run command
python "http-conditional-check.py" --url "http://127.0.0.1:8765/sample.txt" --modified-since "Wed, 21 Oct 2015 07:28:00 GMT" --output "conditional.json"

If your system uses python3 instead of python, use that command for Python examples. Keep paths containing spaces in quotes. Required inputs and optional settings are described in the code and setup steps.

What to expect

Check whether a server returns 304 for a supplied cache validator. The old sample date normally returns 200; a current matching last-modified may return 304.

The complete script

http-conditional-check.py
#!/usr/bin/env python3
'Test an HTTP conditional request'
import argparse
import json
from pathlib import Path

def write_json(path, value):
    data = json.dumps(value, indent=2, ensure_ascii=False, allow_nan=False) + "\n"
    with Path(path).open("x", encoding="utf-8", newline="") as handle:
        handle.write(data)

import urllib.request
import urllib.error
import urllib.parse
import urllib.robotparser
import socket
import ssl
import time
import re
import ipaddress
import queue
import threading
from datetime import datetime, timezone

def url(value):
    parts=urllib.parse.urlsplit(value)
    if parts.scheme not in {"http","https"} or not parts.hostname or parts.username is not None or parts.password is not None:
        raise ValueError("Use an http(s) URL without embedded credentials.")
    return value
def request(address,timeout,method="GET",headers=None,limit=1024*1024,opener=None):
    url(address)
    if not 0<timeout<=120: raise ValueError("Timeout must be 0..120 seconds, excluding zero.")
    req=urllib.request.Request(address,method=method,headers={"User-Agent":"ScriptageLearning/1.0",**(headers or {})})
    try: response=(opener.open(req,timeout=timeout) if opener else urllib.request.urlopen(req,timeout=timeout))
    except urllib.error.HTTPError as exc: response=exc
    with response:
        data=response.read(limit+1) if limit else b""
        if len(data)>limit: raise ValueError("Response exceeds the byte limit.")
        return response.status,response.geturl(),{k.lower():v for k,v in response.headers.items()},data
def checked(address,timeout,**kwargs):
    status,final,headers,data=request(address,timeout,**kwargs)
    if not 200<=status<300: raise ValueError("HTTP status "+str(status))
    return final,headers,data
def urls(path):
    result=[line.strip() for line in Path(path).read_text(encoding="utf-8").splitlines() if line.strip()]
    if len(result)>100: raise ValueError("At most 100 URLs per run.")
    return result
def resolve(host,port,timeout):
    result=queue.Queue()
    def work():
        try: result.put((True,socket.getaddrinfo(host,port,type=socket.SOCK_STREAM)))
        except OSError as exc: result.put((False,str(exc)))
    threading.Thread(target=work,daemon=True).start()
    try: ok,value=result.get(timeout=timeout)
    except queue.Empty: raise ValueError("DNS lookup timed out.")
    if not ok: raise ValueError(value)
    return value
def connect(host,port,timeout):
    last=None
    for family,kind,proto,_,address in resolve(host,port,timeout):
        connection=socket.socket(family,kind,proto)
        connection.settimeout(timeout)
        try:
            connection.connect(address)
            return connection
        except OSError as exc:
            last=exc
            connection.close()
    raise OSError(str(last))

def main():
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Test an HTTP conditional request')
    parser.add_argument("--output",required=True,help="New output file")
    parser.add_argument("--timeout",type=float,default=10,help="Per-operation timeout in seconds")
    parser.add_argument("--url",required=True)
    parser.add_argument("--etag")
    parser.add_argument("--modified-since")
    args = parser.parse_args()
    if not 0<args.timeout<=120: raise ValueError("Timeout must be greater than zero and at most 120.")
    headers={}
    if args.etag: headers["If-None-Match"]=args.etag
    if args.modified_since: headers["If-Modified-Since"]=args.modified_since
    if not headers: raise ValueError("Provide --etag or --modified-since.")
    status,final,response,_=request(args.url,args.timeout,headers=headers,limit=0)
    write_json(args.output,{"url":final,"status":status,"not_modified":status==304,"etag":response.get("etag"),"last_modified":response.get("last-modified")})

if __name__ == "__main__":
    try:
        main()
    except (OSError, ValueError, KeyError, TypeError, ArithmeticError, IndexError, LookupError) as exc:
        raise SystemExit(str(exc))

Open source as plain text · Download source and sample files

How it works

  1. The command names every destination explicitly and refuses an existing output.
  2. The request includes only explicitly supplied validators and saves metadata rather than the response body.
  3. The old sample date normally returns 200; a current matching last-modified may return 304.

Make it your own

--etag

Copy an exact ETag including its quotes into --etag.

Adapt the processing

Edit main's result to include additional validator headers.

Change one setting at a time, run it again on sample data, and compare the output. The customization guide walks through this process.

If something goes wrong

The server returns 200 despite a validator.

The resource may have changed or the server may not support that validator.

The destination already exists.

Choose a new --output path. The script deliberately refuses to replace an existing result.

Reference & next steps

These official references explain the underlying tools. The Scriptage example and guide are original instructional content. See verification notes for what has been checked and the limits of those checks.

Copies a template for your own notes. It does not send anything.