============ File Uploads ============ **New in Django development version** Most Web sites wouldn't be complete without a way to upload files. When Django handles a file upload, the file data ends up placed in ``request.FILES`` (for more on the ``request`` object see the documentation for `request and response objects`_). This document explains how files are stored on disk and in memory, and how to customize the default behavior. .. _request and response objects: ../request_response/#attributes Basic file uploads ================== Consider a simple form containing a ``FileField``:: from django import newforms as forms class UploadFileForm(forms.Form): title = forms.CharField(max_length=50) file = forms.FileField() A view handling this form will receive the file data in ``request.FILES``, which is a dictionary containing a key for each ``FileField`` (or ``ImageField``, or other ``FileField`` subclass) in the form. So the data from the above form would be accessible as ``request.FILES['file']``. Most of the time, you'll simply pass the file data from ``request`` into the form as described in `binding uploaded files to a form`_. This would look something like:: from django.http import HttpResponseRedirect from django.shortcuts import render_to_response # Imaginary function to handle an uploaded file. from somewhere import handle_uploaded_file def upload_file(request): if request.method == 'POST': form = UploadFileForm(request.POST, request.FILES) if form.is_valid(): handle_uploaded_file(request.FILES['file']) return HttpResponseRedirect('/success/url/') else: form = UploadFileForm() return render_to_response('upload.html', {'form': form}) .. _binding uploaded files to a form: ../newforms/#binding-uploaded-files-to-a- form Notice that we have to pass ``request.FILES`` into the form's constructor; this is how file data gets bound into a form. Handling uploaded files ----------------------- The final piece of the puzzle is handling the actual file data from ``request.FILES``. Each entry in this dictionary is an ``UploadedFile`` object -- a simple wrapper around an uploaded file. You'll usually use one of these methods to access the uploaded content: ``UploadedFile.read()`` Read the entire uploaded data from the file. Be careful with this method: if the uploaded file is huge it can overwhelm your system if you try to read it into memory. You'll probably want to use ``chunk()`` instead; see below. ``UploadedFile.multiple_chunks()`` Returns ``True`` if the uploaded file is big enough to require reading in multiple chunks. By default this will be any file larger than 2.5 megabytes, but that's configurable; see below. ``UploadedFile.chunks()`` A generator returning chunks of the file. If ``multiple_chunks()`` is ``True``, you should use this method in a loop instead of ``read()``. In practice, it's often easiest simply to use ``chunks()`` all the time; see the example below. ``UploadedFile.file_name`` The name of the uploaded file (e.g. ``my_file.txt``). ``UploadedFile.file_size`` The size, in bytes, of the uploaded file. There are a few other methods and attributes available on ``UploadedFile`` objects; see `UploadedFile objects`_ for a complete reference. Putting it all together, here's a common way you might handle an uploaded file:: def handle_uploaded_file(f): destination = open('some/file/name.txt', 'wb') for chunk in f.chunks(): destination.write(chunk) Looping over ``UploadedFile.chunks()`` instead of using ``read()`` ensures that large files don't overwhelm your system's memory. Where uploaded data is stored ----------------------------- Before you save uploaded files, the data needs to be stored somewhere. By default, if an uploaded file is smaller than 2.5 megabytes, Django will hold the entire contents of the upload in memory. This means that saving the file involves only a read from memory and a write to disk and thus is very fast. However, if an uploaded file is too large, Django will write the uploaded file to a temporary file stored in your system's temporary directory. On a Unix-like platform this means you can expect Django to generate a file called something like ``/tmp/tmpzfp6I6.upload``. If an upload is large enough, you can watch this file grow in size as Django streams the data onto disk. These specifics -- 2.5 megabytes; ``/tmp``; etc. -- are simply "reasonable defaults". Read on for details on how you can customize or completely replace upload behavior. Changing upload handler behavior -------------------------------- Three `settings`_ control Django's file upload behavior: ``FILE_UPLOAD_MAX_MEMORY_SIZE`` The maximum size, in bytes, for files that will be uploaded into memory. Files larger than ``FILE_UPLOAD_MAX_MEMORY_SIZE`` will be streamed to disk. Defaults to 2.5 megabytes. ``FILE_UPLOAD_TEMP_DIR`` The directory where uploaded files larger than ``FILE_UPLOAD_TEMP_DIR`` will be stored. Defaults to your system's standard temporary directory (i.e. ``/tmp`` on most Unix-like systems). ``FILE_UPLOAD_HANDLERS`` The actual handlers for uploaded files. Changing this setting allows complete customization -- even replacement -- of Django's upload process. See `upload handlers`_, below, for details. Defaults to:: ("django.core.files.uploadhandler.MemoryFileUploadHandler", "django.core.files.uploadhandler.TemporaryFileUploadHandler",) Which means "try to upload to memory first, then fall back to temporary files." .. _settings: ../settings/ ``UploadedFile`` objects ======================== All ``UploadedFile`` objects define the following methods/attributes: ``UploadedFile.read(self, num_bytes=None)`` Returns a byte string of length ``num_bytes``, or the complete file if ``num_bytes`` is ``None``. ``UploadedFile.chunk(self, chunk_size=None)`` A generator yielding small chunks from the file. If ``chunk_size`` isn't given, chunks will be 64 kb. ``UploadedFile.multiple_chunks(self, chunk_size=None)`` Returns ``True`` if you can expect more than one chunk when calling ``UploadedFile.chunk(self, chunk_size)``. ``UploadedFile.file_size`` The size, in bytes, of the uploaded file. ``UploadedFile.file_name`` The name of the uploaded file as provided by the user. ``UploadedFile.content_type`` The content-type header uploaded with the file (e.g. ``text/plain`` or ``application/pdf``). Like any data supplied by the user, you shouldn't trust that the uploaded file is actually this type. You'll still need to validate that the file contains the content that the content-type header claims -- "trust but verify." ``UploadedFile.charset`` For ``text/*`` content-types, the character set (i.e. ``utf8``) supplied by the browser. Again, "trust but verify" is the best policy here. ``UploadedFile.temporary_file_path()`` Only files uploaded onto disk will have this method; it returns the full path to the temporary uploaded file. Upload Handlers =============== When a user uploads a file, Django passes off the file data to an *upload handler* -- a small class that handles file data as it gets uploaded. Upload handlers are initially defined in the ``FILE_UPLOAD_HANDLERS`` setting, which defaults to:: ("django.core.files.uploadhandler.MemoryFileUploadHandler", "django.core.files.uploadhandler.TemporaryFileUploadHandler",) Together the ``MemoryFileUploadHandler`` and ``TemporaryFileUploadHandler`` provide Django's default file upload behavior of reading small files into memory and large ones onto disk. You can write custom handlers that customize how Django handles files. You could, for example, use custom handlers to enforce user-level quotas, compress data on the fly, render progress bars, and even send data to another storage location directly without storing it locally. Modifying upload handlers on the fly ------------------------------------ Sometimes particular views require different upload behavior. In these cases, you can override upload handlers on a per-request basis by modifying ``request.upload_handlers``. By default, this list will contain the upload handlers given by ``FILE_UPLOAD_HANDLERS``, but you can modify the list as you would any other list. For instance, suppose you've written a ``ProgressBarUploadHandler`` that provides feedback on upload progress to some sort of AJAX widget. You'd add this handler to your upload handers like this:: request.upload_handlers.insert(0, ProgressBarUploadHandler()) You'd probably want to use ``list.insert()`` in this case (instead of ``append()``) because a progress bar handler would need to run *before* any other handlers. Remember, the upload handlers are processed in order. If you want to replace the upload handlers completely, you can just assign a new list:: request.upload_handlers = [ProgressBarUploadHandler()] .. note:: You can only modify upload handlers *before* accessing ``request.FILES`` -- it doesn't make sense to change upload handlers after upload handling has already started. If you try to modify ``request.upload_handlers`` after reading from ``request.FILES`` Django will throw an error. Thus, you should always modify uploading handlers as early in your view as possible. Writing custom upload handlers ------------------------------ All file upload handlers should be subclasses of ``django.core.files.uploadhandler.FileUploadHandler``. You can define upload handlers wherever you wish. Required methods ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Custom file upload handlers **must** define the following methods: ``FileUploadHandler.receive_data_chunk(self, raw_data, start)`` Receives a "chunk" of data from the file upload. ``raw_data`` is a byte string containing the uploaded data. ``start`` is the position in the file where this ``raw_data`` chunk begins. The data you return will get fed into the subsequent upload handlers' ``receive_data_chunk`` methods. In this way, one handler can be a "filter" for other handlers. Return ``None`` from ``receive_data_chunk`` to sort-circuit remaining upload handlers from getting this chunk.. This is useful if you're storing the uploaded data yourself and don't want future handlers to store a copy of the data. If you raise a ``StopUpload`` or a ``SkipFile`` exception, the upload will abort or the file will be completely skipped. ``FileUploadHandler.file_complete(self, file_size)`` Called when a file has finished uploading. The handler should return an ``UploadedFile`` object that will be stored in ``request.FILES``. Handlers may also return ``None`` to indicate that the ``UploadedFile`` object should come from subsequent upload handlers. Optional methods ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Custom upload handlers may also define any of the following optional methods or attributes: ``FileUploadHandler.chunk_size`` Size, in bytes, of the "chunks" Django should store into memory and feed into the handler. That is, this attribute controls the size of chunks fed into ``FileUploadHandler.receive_data_chunk``. For maximum performance the chunk sizes should be divisible by ``4`` and should not exceed 2 GB (2\ :sup:`31` bytes) in size. When there are multiple chunk sizes provided by multiple handlers, Django will use the smallest chunk size defined by any handler. The default is 64*2\ :sup:`10` bytes, or 64 Kb. ``FileUploadHandler.new_file(self, field_name, file_name, content_type, content_length, charset)`` Callback signaling that a new file upload is starting. This is called before any data has been fed to any upload handlers. ``field_name`` is a string name of the file ```` field. ``file_name`` is the unicode filename that was provided by the browser. ``content_type`` is the MIME type provided by the browser -- E.g. ``'image/jpeg'``. ``content_length`` is the length of the image given by the browser. Sometimes this won't be provided and will be ``None``., ``None`` otherwise. ``charset`` is the character set (i.e. ``utf8``) given by the browser. Like ``content_length``, this sometimes won't be provided. This method may raise a ``StopFutureHandlers`` exception to prevent future handlers from handling this file. ``FileUploadHandler.upload_complete(self)`` Callback signaling that the entire upload (all files) has completed. ``FileUploadHandler.``handle_raw_input(self, input_data, META, content_length, boundary, encoding)`` Allows the handler to completely override the parsing of the raw HTTP input. ``input_data`` is a file-like object that supports ``read()``-ing. ``META`` is the same object as ``request.META``. ``content_length`` is the length of the data in ``input_data``. Don't read more than ``content_length`` bytes from ``input_data``. ``boundary`` is the MIME boundary for this request. ``encoding`` is the encoding of the request. Return ``None`` if you want upload handling to continue, or a tuple of ``(POST, FILES)`` if you want to return the new data structures suitable for the request directly.