Rust:
Sending an HTTP request
How to:
To send a GET request in Rust, we use the reqwest crate. First, add it to your Cargo.toml:
[dependencies]
reqwest = "0.11"
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }Now, rustle up some async Rust code:
use reqwest;
use tokio;
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), reqwest::Error> {
let response_text = reqwest::get("https://api.example.com/data")
.await?
.text()
.await?;
println!("Response: {}", response_text);
Ok(())
}Sample output might look like this:
Response: {"key": "value", "hello": "world"}That’s all it takes to hit an endpoint with a GET request!
Deep Dive
HTTP requests are as old as the hills in internet years. They’re the backbone of web-based communication. Rust uses crates like reqwest because it’s not a web-specific language – flexibility is key. reqwest is built on hyper, which is fast and low-level, but reqwest adds ease of use on top.
Alternatives to reqwest? Sure. hyper for speed demons, surf if you’re into async Rust or ureq for simplicity – no async fuss needed.
Under the hood, when you send an HTTP request, Rust’s doing much what any language would: establishing a TCP connection, sending along a formatted HTTP request, and interpreting the raw response. Asynchronous handling of these requests is where Rust shines, letting you do other stuff while awaiting the server’s reply.