solr/solr-ref-guide/src/using-python.adoc

= Using Python
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Solr includes an output format specifically for <<response-writers.adoc#python-response-writer,Python>>, but <<response-writers.adoc#json-response-writer,JSON output>> is a little more robust.

== Simple Python

Making a query is a simple matter. First, tell Python you will need to make HTTP connections.

[source,python]
----
from urllib2 import *
----

Now open a connection to the server and get a response. The `wt` query parameter tells Solr to return results in a format that Python can understand.

[source,python]
----
connection = urlopen('http://localhost:8983/solr/collection_name/select?q=cheese&wt=python')
response = eval(connection.read())
----

Now interpreting the response is just a matter of pulling out the information that you need.

[source,python]
----
print response['response']['numFound'], "documents found."

# Print the name of each document.

for document in response['response']['docs']:
  print "  Name =", document['name']
----

== Python with JSON

JSON is a more robust response format, and Python has support for it in its standard library since version 2.6.

Making a query is nearly the same as before. However, notice that the `wt` query parameter is now `json` (which is also the default if no `wt` parameter is specified), and the response is now digested by `json.load()`.

[source,python]
----
from urllib2 import *
import json
connection = urlopen('http://localhost:8983/solr/collection_name/select?q=cheese&wt=json')
response = json.load(connection)
print response['response']['numFound'], "documents found."

# Print the name of each document.

for document in response['response']['docs']:
  print "  Name =", document['name']
----