Sentry Answers>Flask>

Create a route with optional URL parameters in Flask

Create a route with optional URL parameters in Flask

David Y.

The Problem

How do I write a Flask route with optional URL parameters?

The Solution

To create a Flask route with an optional URL parameter, we can use two route decorators on the same function. One will describe the URL without the optional parameter, and the other will describe the URL with the optional parameter.

Click to Copy
@app.route('/products', defaults={'product_id': None}) @app.route('/products/<product_id>') def show_product(product_id): if product_id: # code to show individual product else: # code to show whole catalog

This same method will work for multiple optional URL parameters.

Click to Copy
@app.route('/products', defaults={'product_id': None, 'store_id': None}) @app.route('/products/<product_id>', defaults={'store_id': None}) @app.route('/products/<product_id>/<store_id>') def show_product(product_id, store_id): if product_id: if store_id: # code to show individual product at specific store else: # code to show individual product everywhere else: # code to show whole catalog

Note that it would be impossible to extend the above function to accept a store_id without a product_id, as the positional nature of the arguments would create an ambiguity about which ID was being specified.

  • SentryFlask Error Monitoring
  • Syntax.fmListen to the Syntax Podcast
  • Community SeriesIdentify, Trace, and Fix Endpoint Regression Issues
  • Syntax.fm logo
    Listen to the Syntax Podcast

    Tasty treats for web developers brought to you by Sentry. Get tips and tricks from Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski.

    SEE EPISODES

Considered “not bad” by 4 million developers and more than 100,000 organizations worldwide, Sentry provides code-level observability to many of the world’s best-known companies like Disney, Peloton, Cloudflare, Eventbrite, Slack, Supercell, and Rockstar Games. Each month we process billions of exceptions from the most popular products on the internet.

© 2024 • Sentry is a registered Trademark of Functional Software, Inc.