Prerequisites
Make sure you have Python installed, along with Flask and SQLite. You can install Flask via pip:
pip install Flask
Step 1: Set Up the Project Structure
Create a directory for your project, for example, url_shortener. Inside this directory, create the following files:
app.pydatabase.db(this will be created automatically)templates/index.htmlresult.html
Step 2: Create the Flask App (app.py)
Here’s a simple Flask app to handle URL shortening:
from flask import Flask, request, redirect, render_template
import sqlite3
import string
import random
app = Flask(__name__)
# Database setup
def init_db():
with sqlite3.connect('database.db') as conn:
conn.execute('''
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS urls (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
short_url TEXT UNIQUE,
original_url TEXT NOT NULL
)
''')
conn.close()
# Generate a random string
def generate_short_url(length=6):
characters = string.ascii_letters + string.digits
return ''.join(random.choice(characters) for _ in range(length))
# Route for the homepage
@app.route('/')
def index():
return render_template('index.html')
# Route to shorten the URL
@app.route('/shorten', methods=['POST'])
def shorten():
original_url = request.form['url']
short_url = generate_short_url()
with sqlite3.connect('database.db') as conn:
conn.execute('INSERT INTO urls (short_url, original_url) VALUES (?, ?)', (short_url, original_url))
conn.close()
return render_template('result.html', short_url=short_url)
# Route to redirect to the original URL
@app.route('/<short_url>')
def redirect_to_url(short_url):
with sqlite3.connect('database.db') as conn:
cursor = conn.execute('SELECT original_url FROM urls WHERE short_url = ?', (short_url,))
row = cursor.fetchone()
conn.close()
if row:
return redirect(row[0])
else:
return 'URL not found', 404
if __name__ == '__main__':
init_db()
app.run(debug=True)
Step 3: Create the HTML Templates
templates/index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>URL Shortener</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>URL Shortener</h1>
<form action="/shorten" method="POST">
<input type="text" name="url" placeholder="Enter URL" required>
<button type="submit">Shorten</button>
</form>
</body>
</html>
templates/result.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Shortened URL</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Your Shortened URL</h1>
<p><a href="{{ short_url }}">{{ request.url_root }}{{ short_url }}</a></p>
<a href="/">Shorten another URL</a>
</body>
</html>
Step 4: Run the Application
In your terminal, navigate to your project directory and run:
python app.py
Step 5: Access the Application
Open your web browser and go to http://127.0.0.1:5000/. You should see the URL shortener interface. Enter a URL, and it will provide you with a shortened version.
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