Trying to download a file by URL with urllib.retrieve: 'module' object has no attribute 'retrieve'

Question

This is my first ever Python script, so I assume I'm doing something wrong. But I can't find a clue in any of the tutorials or examples. The following code (so to speak):

import urllib

urllib.retrieve("http://zlib.net/zlib-1.2.8.tar.gz")

throws an error

AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'retrieve'

How do I fix it? This is Python 3.3.

Answer 1

[The question was solved in the comments, hence adding it as an answer now.]

The below code works. (Source : this answer)

import urllib.request
# Download the file from `url` and save it locally under `file_name`:
urllib.request.urlretrieve(url, file_name)

Note the import statement.

You need to do import urllib.request instead of import urllib.

Answer 2

As the error says, urllib does not have a retrieve function.

In Python 2, the module did have a urlretrieve function. In Python 3, that function has been moved to urllib.request.urlretrieve.

You can find all this in the documentation: https://docs.python.org/3/library/urllib.html