Size of a remote URL

[Dave Brueck]

Justin wrote:

> Ok.  I believe you are correct.  I have observed the two MODES of the
> download dialog box.  HOWEVER there are still some instances in which
> Internet Explorer knows the size of something that my code cannot
> determine.  So now I have this conclusion:  The instances where I
> cannot get the size but a browser can must exist because I am not
> asking the server the right question. 

Post a URL and I'll give it a try for you.

> Perhaps "Content-Length" is not
> included in the default headers, but the server will provide this
> header if it is asked too?

It's _possible_ that whether or not the content-length header is returned is 
affected by e.g. the protocol you say you're using (HTTP 1.0 vs 1.1, for 
example), but that wouldn't be my first guess.

> Maybe I need to ask for that header more
> specifically? 

No, there's not really any way to do that in HTTP.

> Also do you know of a simpler method than urlopen?

Sure, you can always use plain old sockets:

from socket import *
s = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM)
s.connect(('www.google.com', 80))
s.send('HEAD / HTTP/1.0\r\n\r\n')
while 1:
   more = s.recv(4096)
   if not more: break
   print more

-Dave