parse query string with urllib in Python 2.4

Question

Using Python2.4.5 (don't ask!) I want to parse a query string and get a dict in return. Do I have to do it "manually" like follows?

>>> qs = 'first=1&second=4&third=3'
>>> d = dict([x.split("=") for x in qs.split("&")])
>>> d
{'second': '4', 'third': '3', 'first': '1'}

Didn't find any useful method in urlparse.

Answer 1

You have two options:

>>> cgi.parse_qs(qs)
{'second': ['4'], 'third': ['3'], 'first': ['1']}

or

>>> cgi.parse_qsl(qs)
[('first', '1'), ('second', '4'), ('third', '3')]

The values in the dict returned by cgi.parse_qs() are lists rather than strings, in order to handle the case when the same parameter is specified several times:

>>> qs = 'tags=python&tags=programming'
>>> cgi.parse_qs(qs)
{'tags': ['python', 'programming']}