1a:I[4594,["1849","static/chunks/1849-0fc2bd73d6f2e163.js","6329","static/chunks/6329-deb7a466c19beaad.js","5687","static/chunks/5687-c1621349502ac098.js","7194","static/chunks/7194-92efb78e82eec78e.js","6384","static/chunks/app/t/%5Btag%5D/page-90992b381821f968.js"],"BrandMark"] 1b:I[1566,["1849","static/chunks/1849-0fc2bd73d6f2e163.js","6329","static/chunks/6329-deb7a466c19beaad.js","5687","static/chunks/5687-c1621349502ac098.js","7194","static/chunks/7194-92efb78e82eec78e.js","6384","static/chunks/app/t/%5Btag%5D/page-90992b381821f968.js"],"ThemeToggle"] 1c:I[9718,["1849","static/chunks/1849-0fc2bd73d6f2e163.js","6329","static/chunks/6329-deb7a466c19beaad.js","5687","static/chunks/5687-c1621349502ac098.js","7194","static/chunks/7194-92efb78e82eec78e.js","6384","static/chunks/app/t/%5Btag%5D/page-90992b381821f968.js"],"AccountMenu"] 1d:I[4113,["1849","static/chunks/1849-0fc2bd73d6f2e163.js","6329","static/chunks/6329-deb7a466c19beaad.js","5687","static/chunks/5687-c1621349502ac098.js","7194","static/chunks/7194-92efb78e82eec78e.js","6384","static/chunks/app/t/%5Btag%5D/page-90992b381821f968.js"],"LeftNavigation"] 1e:I[5608,["1849","static/chunks/1849-0fc2bd73d6f2e163.js","6329","static/chunks/6329-deb7a466c19beaad.js","5687","static/chunks/5687-c1621349502ac098.js","7194","static/chunks/7194-92efb78e82eec78e.js","6384","static/chunks/app/t/%5Btag%5D/page-90992b381821f968.js"],"ResponsiveBannerAd"] 1f:I[8424,["1849","static/chunks/1849-0fc2bd73d6f2e163.js","6329","static/chunks/6329-deb7a466c19beaad.js","5687","static/chunks/5687-c1621349502ac098.js","7194","static/chunks/7194-92efb78e82eec78e.js","6384","static/chunks/app/t/%5Btag%5D/page-90992b381821f968.js"],"TopicFollowButton"] 20:I[1577,["1849","static/chunks/1849-0fc2bd73d6f2e163.js","6329","static/chunks/6329-deb7a466c19beaad.js","5687","static/chunks/5687-c1621349502ac098.js","7194","static/chunks/7194-92efb78e82eec78e.js","6384","static/chunks/app/t/%5Btag%5D/page-90992b381821f968.js"],"FeedView"] 21:T1edf,{"content":[{"content":[{"text":"URL shorteners are incredibly useful tools that convert long, unwieldy URLs into shorter, more manageable links. They are widely used in social media, marketing, and other digital platforms to make sharing links easier. In this article, we\u2019ll walk through how to create a simple URL shortener using Python.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"What is a URL Shortener?","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"A URL shortener is a service that takes a long URL and generates a shorter, unique alias for it. When users click on the shortened URL, they are redirected to the original, longer URL. Popular examples of URL shorteners include Bitly and TinyURL.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Tools and Libraries Required","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"To build our URL shortener, we\u2019ll use the following Python libraries:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Flask","type":"text"},{"text":": A lightweight web framework for Python that will help us create a web application.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hashlib","type":"text"},{"text":": A library that provides secure hash functions, which we\u2019ll use to generate unique shortened URLs.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"SQLite3","type":"text"},{"text":": A lightweight database to store the original URLs and their shortened versions.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 1: Setting Up the Project","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"First, ensure you have Python installed on your system. Then, create a new directory for your project and set up a virtual environment:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"plaintext"},"content":[{"text":"mkdir url_shortener\r\ncd url_shortener\r\npython -m venv venv\r\nsource venv/bin/activate # On Windows, use `venv\\Scripts\\activate`","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"content":[{"text":"Next, install the required libraries:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"plaintext"},"content":[{"text":"pip install Flask","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 2: Creating the Flask Application","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"Create a new Python file, ","type":"text"},{"marks":[{"type":"code"}],"text":"app.py","type":"text"},{"text":", and start by importing the necessary libraries:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"python"},"content":[{"text":"from flask import Flask, request, redirect, render_template\r\nimport hashlib\r\nimport sqlite3\r\n\r\napp = Flask(__name__)","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 3: Setting Up the Database","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"We\u2019ll use SQLite3 to store the original URLs and their shortened versions. Create a function to initialize the database:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"python"},"content":[{"text":"def init_db():\r\n conn = sqlite3.connect('urls.db')\r\n c = conn.cursor()\r\n c.execute('''CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS urls\r\n (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,\r\n original_url TEXT NOT NULL,\r\n short_url TEXT NOT NULL)''')\r\n conn.commit()\r\n conn.close()\r\n\r\ninit_db()","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 4: Generating Short URLs","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"To generate a short URL, we\u2019ll use a hash function. Here\u2019s a function that takes a long URL and returns a shortened version:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"python"},"content":[{"text":"def generate_short_url(url):\r\n hash_object = hashlib.md5(url.encode())\r\n return hash_object.hexdigest()[:8]","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 5: Creating Routes","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"Now, let\u2019s create the routes for our Flask application. We\u2019ll need two main routes:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Home Route","type":"text"},{"text":": Displays a form where users can input a long URL.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Redirect Route","type":"text"},{"text":": Handles the shortened URL and redirects users to the original URL.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"text":"Here\u2019s the code for the routes:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"python"},"content":[{"text":"@app.route('/', methods=['GET', 'POST'])\r\ndef home():\r\n if request.method == 'POST':\r\n original_url = request.form['url']\r\n short_url = generate_short_url(original_url)\r\n\r\n conn = sqlite3.connect('urls.db')\r\n c = conn.cursor()\r\n c.execute(\"INSERT INTO urls (original_url, short_url) VALUES (?, ?)\",\r\n (original_url, short_url))\r\n conn.commit()\r\n conn.close()\r\n\r\n return f\"Shortened URL: {request.host_url}{short_url}\"\r\n return render_template('index.html')\r\n\r\n@app.route('/')\r\ndef redirect_to_url(short_url):\r\n conn = sqlite3.connect('urls.db')\r\n c = conn.cursor()\r\n c.execute(\"SELECT original_url FROM urls WHERE short_url=?\", (short_url,))\r\n result = c.fetchone()\r\n conn.close()\r\n\r\n if result:\r\n return redirect(result[0])\r\n return \"URL not found\", 404","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 6: Creating the HTML Template","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"Create a folder named ","type":"text"},{"marks":[{"type":"code"}],"text":"templates","type":"text"},{"text":" in your project directory and add a file named ","type":"text"},{"marks":[{"type":"code"}],"text":"index.html","type":"text"},{"text":":","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"html"},"content":[{"text":"\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n URL Shortener\r\n\r\n\r\n

URL Shortener

\r\n \r\n\r\n","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 7: Running the Application","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"Finally, run the Flask application:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"plaintext"},"content":[{"text":"export FLASK_APP=app.py\r\nflask run","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"content":[{"text":"Visit ","type":"text"},{"marks":[{"type":"code"}],"text":"http://127.0.0.1:5000/","type":"text"},{"text":" in your browser, and you\u2019ll see the URL shortener in action!","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Conclusion","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"In this tutorial, we\u2019ve built a simple URL shortener using Python, Flask, and SQLite3. This is a basic implementation, but you can expand it by adding features like custom short URLs, analytics, or a user interface for managing links. ","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"text":"Happy coding!","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"}],"type":"doc"}13:[["$","a",null,{"href":"#main-content","className":"bg-brand fixed top-3 left-3 z-[100] -translate-y-20 rounded-lg px-4 py-2 font-semibold text-white transition focus:translate-y-0 dark:text-slate-950","children":"Skip to content"}],["$","header",null,{"className":"border-border bg-canvas/92 sticky top-0 z-40 border-b backdrop-blur-xl","children":["$","div",null,{"className":"mx-auto flex h-16 max-w-[1440px] items-center gap-3 px-4 sm:px-6","children":[["$","$L1a",null,{}],["$","form",null,{"role":"search","action":"/search","className":"relative ml-3 hidden max-w-xl flex-1 md:block","children":[["$","label",null,{"htmlFor":"global-search","className":"sr-only","children":"Search articles, tags and people"}],["$","svg",null,{"aria-hidden":"true","viewBox":"0 0 24 24","fill":"none","stroke":"currentColor","strokeWidth":"1.8","strokeLinecap":"round","strokeLinejoin":"round","className":"text-ink-muted pointer-events-none absolute top-1/2 left-3 size-5 -translate-y-1/2","children":[["$","circle",null,{"cx":"11","cy":"11","r":"7"}],["$","path",null,{"d":"m20 20-4-4"}]]}],["$","input",null,{"id":"global-search","name":"q","type":"search","placeholder":"Search articles, tags and people","className":"border-border bg-surface placeholder:text-ink-muted/75 h-11 w-full rounded-xl border pr-4 pl-10 text-sm"}]]}],["$","div",null,{"className":"ml-auto flex items-center gap-2","children":[["$","$Ld",null,{"href":"/search","aria-label":"Search","className":"hover:bg-brand-soft grid size-11 place-items-center rounded-xl md:hidden","children":["$","svg",null,{"aria-hidden":"true","viewBox":"0 0 24 24","fill":"none","stroke":"currentColor","strokeWidth":"1.8","strokeLinecap":"round","strokeLinejoin":"round","className":"size-5","children":"$13:1:props:children:props:children:1:props:children:1:props:children"}]}],["$","$L1b",null,{}],["$","div",null,{"className":"hidden sm:block","children":["$","$Ld",null,{"href":"/dashboard/posts/new","className":"bg-brand hover:bg-brand-strong inline-flex min-h-11 items-center justify-center gap-2 rounded-xl px-4 py-2 text-sm font-semibold text-white transition dark:text-slate-950","children":[["$","svg",null,{"aria-hidden":"true","viewBox":"0 0 24 24","fill":"none","stroke":"currentColor","strokeWidth":"1.8","strokeLinecap":"round","strokeLinejoin":"round","className":"size-4","children":[["$","path",null,{"d":"m4 20 4.5-1 10-10-3.5-3.5-10 10L4 20Z"}],["$","path",null,{"d":"m13.5 7 3.5 3.5"}]]}],"Write"]}]}],["$","$L1c",null,{}]]}]]}]}],["$","div",null,{"className":"mx-auto grid max-w-[1460px] grid-cols-1 gap-6 px-4 pt-6 pb-24 sm:px-6 lg:grid-cols-[220px_minmax(0,760px)] lg:pb-10 xl:grid-cols-[220px_minmax(0,760px)_300px]","children":[["$","$L1d",null,{}],["$","main",null,{"id":"main-content","tabIndex":-1,"className":"min-w-0","children":[["$","$L1e",null,{}],[["$","section",null,{"className":"border-border bg-surface rounded-2xl border shadow-[0_1px_2px_rgb(15_23_42/0.03)] mb-6 p-6 sm:p-8","children":["$","div",null,{"className":"flex flex-col gap-5 sm:flex-row sm:items-center","children":[["$","div",null,{"className":"bg-brand-soft text-brand relative grid size-20 shrink-0 place-items-center overflow-hidden rounded-2xl text-3xl font-bold","children":["$","span",null,{"aria-hidden":"true","children":"#"}]}],["$","div",null,{"className":"min-w-0 flex-1","children":[["$","p",null,{"className":"text-brand text-sm font-semibold","children":"Topic"}],["$","h1",null,{"className":"mt-1 text-3xl font-bold tracking-tight break-words","children":["#","url-shortener"]}],["$","p",null,{"className":"text-ink-muted mt-2 max-w-3xl leading-7","children":"Articles tagged url-shortener."}],["$","p",null,{"className":"text-ink-muted mt-3 text-sm","children":["1"," ","article"]}]]}],["$","$L1f",null,{"topicId":342,"topicName":"url-shortener","initialFollowing":false,"initialFollowerCount":0,"authenticated":false,"returnTo":"/t/url-shortener"}]]}]}],["$","$L20",null,{"data":{"count":1,"next":null,"previous":null,"results":[{"id":157,"slug":"build-your-own-url-shortener-with-python-a-step-by-step-guide","title":"Build Your Own URL Shortener with Python: A Step-by-Step Guide","excerpt":"URL shorteners are incredibly useful tools that convert long, unwieldy URLs into shorter, more manageable links. They are widely used in social media, marketing, and other digital ","content":[{"type":"richText","document":{"content":[{"content":[{"text":"URL shorteners are incredibly useful tools that convert long, unwieldy URLs into shorter, more manageable links. They are widely used in social media, marketing, and other digital platforms to make sharing links easier. In this article, we’ll walk through how to create a simple URL shortener using Python.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"What is a URL Shortener?","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"A URL shortener is a service that takes a long URL and generates a shorter, unique alias for it. When users click on the shortened URL, they are redirected to the original, longer URL. Popular examples of URL shorteners include Bitly and TinyURL.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Tools and Libraries Required","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"To build our URL shortener, we’ll use the following Python libraries:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Flask","type":"text"},{"text":": A lightweight web framework for Python that will help us create a web application.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hashlib","type":"text"},{"text":": A library that provides secure hash functions, which we’ll use to generate unique shortened URLs.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"SQLite3","type":"text"},{"text":": A lightweight database to store the original URLs and their shortened versions.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 1: Setting Up the Project","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"First, ensure you have Python installed on your system. Then, create a new directory for your project and set up a virtual environment:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"plaintext"},"content":[{"text":"mkdir url_shortener\r\ncd url_shortener\r\npython -m venv venv\r\nsource venv/bin/activate # On Windows, use `venv\\Scripts\\activate`","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"content":[{"text":"Next, install the required libraries:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"plaintext"},"content":[{"text":"pip install Flask","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 2: Creating the Flask Application","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"Create a new Python file, ","type":"text"},{"marks":[{"type":"code"}],"text":"app.py","type":"text"},{"text":", and start by importing the necessary libraries:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"python"},"content":[{"text":"from flask import Flask, request, redirect, render_template\r\nimport hashlib\r\nimport sqlite3\r\n\r\napp = Flask(__name__)","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 3: Setting Up the Database","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"We’ll use SQLite3 to store the original URLs and their shortened versions. Create a function to initialize the database:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"python"},"content":[{"text":"def init_db():\r\n conn = sqlite3.connect('urls.db')\r\n c = conn.cursor()\r\n c.execute('''CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS urls\r\n (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,\r\n original_url TEXT NOT NULL,\r\n short_url TEXT NOT NULL)''')\r\n conn.commit()\r\n conn.close()\r\n\r\ninit_db()","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 4: Generating Short URLs","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"To generate a short URL, we’ll use a hash function. Here’s a function that takes a long URL and returns a shortened version:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"python"},"content":[{"text":"def generate_short_url(url):\r\n hash_object = hashlib.md5(url.encode())\r\n return hash_object.hexdigest()[:8]","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 5: Creating Routes","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"Now, let’s create the routes for our Flask application. We’ll need two main routes:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Home Route","type":"text"},{"text":": Displays a form where users can input a long URL.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Redirect Route","type":"text"},{"text":": Handles the shortened URL and redirects users to the original URL.","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"content":[{"text":"Here’s the code for the routes:","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"python"},"content":[{"text":"@app.route('/', methods=['GET', 'POST'])\r\ndef home():\r\n if request.method == 'POST':\r\n original_url = request.form['url']\r\n short_url = generate_short_url(original_url)\r\n\r\n conn = sqlite3.connect('urls.db')\r\n c = conn.cursor()\r\n c.execute(\"INSERT INTO urls (original_url, short_url) VALUES (?, ?)\",\r\n (original_url, short_url))\r\n conn.commit()\r\n conn.close()\r\n\r\n return f\"Shortened URL: {request.host_url}{short_url}\"\r\n return render_template('index.html')\r\n\r\n@app.route('/')\r\ndef redirect_to_url(short_url):\r\n conn = sqlite3.connect('urls.db')\r\n c = conn.cursor()\r\n c.execute(\"SELECT original_url FROM urls WHERE short_url=?\", (short_url,))\r\n result = c.fetchone()\r\n conn.close()\r\n\r\n if result:\r\n return redirect(result[0])\r\n return \"URL not found\", 404","type":"text"}],"type":"codeBlock"},{"attrs":{"level":4},"content":[{"text":"Step 6: Creating the HTML Template","type":"text"}],"type":"heading"},{"content":[{"text":"Create a folder named ","type":"text"},{"marks":[{"type":"code"}],"text":"templates","type":"text"},{"text":" in your project directory and add a file named ","type":"text"},{"marks":[{"type":"code"}],"text":"index.html","type":"text"},{"text":":","type":"text"}],"type":"paragraph"},{"attrs":{"language":"html"},"content":[{"text":"\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n URL Shortener\r\n\r\n\r\n

#url-shortener

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Build Your Own URL Shortener with Python: A Step-by-Step Guide