How to Get Request Method in Flask: Simple Guide

In Flask, you can get the HTTP request method by accessing request.method inside a route function. This returns a string like GET or POST depending on the request type.

Syntax

Use request.method inside a Flask route to get the HTTP method of the current request.

• request: The Flask object representing the incoming HTTP request.
• method: A property that returns the HTTP method as a string (e.g., GET, POST).

python

from flask import Flask, request

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
def index():
    method = request.method
    return f"Request method is: {method}"

Example

This example shows a Flask app that returns the HTTP method used to access the root URL. It supports both GET and POST methods.

python

from flask import Flask, request

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
def index():
    return f"Request method is: {request.method}"

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run(debug=True)

Output

When you visit http://localhost:5000/ in a browser, it shows: Request method is: GET
When you send a POST request (e.g., via curl or Postman), it shows: Request method is: POST

Common Pitfalls

Some common mistakes when getting the request method in Flask include:

• Not importing request from flask.
• Trying to access request.method outside a route or request context, which causes errors.
• Not specifying allowed methods in the route decorator, so POST requests may return 405 Method Not Allowed.

python

from flask import Flask

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/')
def index():
    # Wrong: request not imported, will cause NameError
    return f"Method is: {request.method}"

# Correct way:
from flask import Flask, request

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
def index():
    return f"Method is: {request.method}"

Quick Reference

Summary tips for getting request method in Flask:

• Always import request from flask.
• Access request.method inside route functions only.
• Specify allowed HTTP methods in @app.route decorator.
• request.method returns a string like GET, POST, PUT, etc.

Key Takeaways

Use request.method inside a Flask route to get the HTTP method as a string.

Always import request from flask before using it.

Specify allowed methods in the route decorator to handle POST or other methods.

Accessing request.method outside a request context causes errors.

request.method returns values like GET, POST, PUT, DELETE depending on the request.